


Love Will Save You // Ryan Follese

by earthtodanielle



Category: Hot Chelle Rae
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-07
Updated: 2018-12-07
Packaged: 2019-09-13 17:49:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 49
Words: 77,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16897206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/earthtodanielle/pseuds/earthtodanielle
Summary: Melanie and Danielle have been fans of Hot Chelle Rae ever since their sophomore year of high school, so what happens when they meet the band - and Ryan and Jamie Follese fall in love with them?Started June 22nd, 2012Completed February 16th, 2013





	1. You're Just a Daydream Away

-Melanie-

"Mel, I swear to God, if you don't get down here right now, we're not gonna get front row!" I heard my best friend yell from downstairs.

"I'm coming, I'm coming! Keep your shorts on!" I yelled back. It was only 4 hours before the show, but we wanted to make sure we were first in line. "Jesus, Danielle. Could you be any louder?" I joked. She took a breath and I yelled, "I was kidding! I know you can be louder."

"You just wait until Hot Chelle Rae walks onto that stage. You haven't heard loud until you hear the screams of hundreds of girls wanting in those boys' pants," Danielle said.

I sighed, "Yeah... Come on! Let's go before someone gets first in line!"

To be honest, I would love nothing more than to call Ryan Keith Follese my boyfriend. And before you start jumping to conclusions, it's not because he's hot. Well, it is a little, but that's not all of the reason. I don't really know how to explain it, actually. You know when people say they listen to a song and they just instantly feel happy? That's how I feel when I listen to Ryan's voice. He could be singing about a rotten apple and I would still think it was the best song ever.

"What are you thinking about?" Danielle asked as she parked her car in the venue's parking lot.

I shook my head and smiled, "Nothing. Just about how excited I am."

She raised her eyebrow at me, "Uh-huh."

I unbuckled my seatbelt and pushed the car door open, "Let's go! I see someone else pulling up!" She did the same and we ran over to the doors. "First in line!" I yelled, high-fiving Danielle. We laughed until we saw who got out of the car we just saw pull in.

"Oh, dear God. Could she look any more like a hooker?" Danielle asked. You didn't need to look at Danielle's expression to know she was disgusted.

"Seriously," I agreed, "This is a concert, not a strip club."

Sarah Alexis Miller. She's basically the most popular girl in our city. And by popular, I mean she's slept with nearly every boy willing to throw himself at her. Her dad owns this insanely popular business that I forget the name of, so she's also filthy rich. Now, it may seem like I'm jealous of her, but believe me, I'm not. If I was jealous of her for anything, it'd be that she's got money. And a lot of it.

"Like what you see?" she smirked.

"What's with the outfit? Halloween was in October," Danielle said.

"Then why are you dressed like a bum?" Sarah shot back.

Danielle started moving toward her, but I grabbed her arm, holding her back beside me. She looked at me and I raised my eyebrow at her. She sighed and then relaxed herself. I still didn't let go of her though. I know her all too well. The second I let go, she sprints toward Sarah and we can say goodbye to front row and hello to the police station.

Sarah just smirked again and walked in front of us, stopping at the door.

"Um, what do you think you're doing?" Danielle asked, getting irritated.

"I think I'm standing in line to see Hot Chelle Rae."

"Wow, you're going to wait in line for four hours?"

Sarah laughed, "Of course not, idiot." She knocked on the door and when it opened, she showed the guy what I'm guessing what some sort of I.D. and he let her in. "See you freaks in four hours," she winked and stepped in the door as the guy closed it behind her.

"Bitch," Danielle mumbled under her breath.

I finally let go of her arm before talking, "You know she's not worth the police report."

Danielle smiled and chuckled lightly, "Yeah. I could never survive prison anyway."

~

Three and a half hours later, we were allowed to go inside. After getting a bracelet put on our wrists, Danielle and I ran straight to center stage. And, of course, Sarah was standing there putting on what I'm fairly certain was the tenth coat of lip gloss.

She closed her mirror and put it back into her purse and said, "And what might you be doing here?"

"I might be getting ready to see Hot Chelle Rae perform, I don't know," I replied, not bothering to look at her.

"So I heard you have this thing for the lead singer," Sarah said. I just rolled my eyes and nodded. "Well, back off. He's mine."

I stifled a laugh, "Just like every other guy you look at."

She started to walk away when she said over her shoulder, "At least I have a better shot than you do." I turned to watch her walk over to buy a drink, then turned back to the stage.

"Don't worry about her," Danielle said, "Ryan totally wouldn't go for a girl like her." I just sighed and waited for the concert to start.

-Ryan-

"Ryan, hurry up! We go on stage in half an hour!" I heard my brother yell from outside the bathroom door.

"Jamie, there is only a piece of wood the width of a CD case between us. You don't need to yell," I said as I opened the door, "Looking good for the ladies takes time."

"Ryan, you could go out there dressed as a hobo and they would still think you were the hottest guy they've ever seen," Jamie said.

"They would, wouldn't they?" I smirked.

Jamie rolled his eyes and walked off the bus, "Come on. Everyone's looking for you."

"No worries! The party has arrived!" I announced as I entered the venue we were playing at.

"Where have you been? We go on in 25 minutes!" Ian said.

"He was getting prettied up," Jamie replied, rolling his eyes.

"The fame is going to your head, man," Nash laughed.

"Whatever, let's just get this party started!" I said, hitting Nash's arm.

After we were done warming up and whatnot, we all huddled together for our pre-show prayer. When we all pulled away, we walked over to stand at the edge of the stage.

The room went black, and we all ran to our places. To be honest, I don't know how none of us tripped on anything. I took a deep breath before I started singing, "Honestly, why are my clothes out on the street?" The venue erupted into screams as the lights turned on when I started the second line, "Honestly, I think you have lost your mind."

"Honestly, I just don't care." The crowd screamed again as I finished the last line and looked around, "Well, look at all these beautiful people! How are you all doing, tonight?!" They screamed once again and I continued, "Well, thank you for having us and we hope you enjoy the show!" I smiled and took another breath before starting to sing again.

~

About an hour and a half later, we finished our set off with Tonight Tonight and ran off stage for the meet and greet.

-Melanie-

We were all waiting for the security guard to open the door for the meet and greet. Before he opened the door, he counted off 10 people including myself, Danielle, Sarah, and seven others.

"You guys, go in first," he said. I squealed in excitement before stepping through the door. I saw the table where Jamie, Nash, and Ian were sitting, frowning when I didn't see Ryan.

The next thing I knew, Sarah pushed back on my shoulder before hissing, "Get out of my way, freak." I lost my balance and started to fall backwards when I was caught by someone standing behind me.

~

Title: "A Daydream Away" by All Time Low


	2. You Say Love's Overrated, I Say it's Complicated

-Melanie-

"Oh. My. God," I whispered as I looked up.

"This isn't usually how I meet fans. Especially ones as gorgeous as yourself," Ryan smiled.

I felt my face getting hot as I pushed myself off of him and turned back around to face him, "S-S-Sorry. I f-fell..."

Ryan chuckled. "Yeah, you fell with the help of that girl," he said, pointing at Sarah, who was flirting with a very uncomfortable looking Jamie.

"Sarah!" I called to her, "Can't you see he's not interested? Leave the poor boy alone!" She scoffed and walked over to where I was still standing with Ryan.

"My turn, loser," she said, shoving me out of the way.

I stumbled before Danielle caught my elbow. I looked back at Ryan, who was staring at me. I shrugged and walked over to the table with Danielle to meet the rest of the band. I talked with Ian and Nash for a few minutes before making my way over to Jamie.

Jamie looked up at me, "Thank you for that, by the way. Is she always that..."

"Bitchy?" I asked.

"Yeah..."

"Pretty much. That was actually her being polite."

"Seriously?" he asked, his eyes getting bigger.

I nodded, "Mhm. Try knowing her for almost 19 years. It doesn't get better."

I saw Jamie smirk and he said, "Don't look now, but I think Ryan's staring at you." I turned around and saw Ryan looking at me before he turned away quickly. I chuckled and Jamie spoke again, "I think he likes you."

"How can he like me? He doesn't know me."

"Do you believe in love at first sight?"

"I believe in attraction at first sight, but not love."

"Okay, well, then it's attraction at first sight."

"Yeah, like that would ever happen," I mumbled before sighing. I walked over to the window when I heard whispering. I couldn't really make out what they were saying, but I definitely knew it was Danielle.

-Danielle-

I watched Jamie watch Melanie walk over to the window as I walked over to him, "Don't worry. She's never really been too confident in herself."

"She seemed pretty confident when she told off that girl earlier."

"Around Sarah? Yeah, she usually fakes that though," I sighed.

"How can you tell?"

"I've known the girl since we were in kindergarten. We're practically like sisters. She hides it fairly well from everyone but me."

"Ah, well, if you could help, I think I've got a plan," Jamie grinned.

"Do tell," I smiled.

"I can tell Ryan likes her. I mean, he's been staring at her non-stop every since he caught her when she fell. I think we need to set them up."

"Ye-" I started yelling before Jamie jumped up and covered my mouth.

"Shhh, I don't want her to find out!" he whisper yelled.

He pulled his hand back and I whispered, "Sorry... Do you have a piece of paper or something?"

"Um..." he trailed off, looking around for some paper before finally finding a piece, "Here. Why?"

"Do you want her to not know about it?" I asked, taking the Sharpie he had out of his hand.

"Well, yeah."

"Here's her name and her number. Tell Ryan to call her as soon as he can, because God knows he probably won't ask for her number himself and she's too shy around him to do anything either," I said, giving him the paper and Sharpie back, "I can't wait to see the look on her face."

Jamie smiled, "You're an evil genius, you know that?"

"So I've been told," I smirked before walking over to Melanie. I got to her and she was still looking out the window, "You ready to go, Mel?"

"What? Why?" she asked.

"Well, you're not talking to anyone. I figured you were bored and wanted to go home or something."

"I wanted to talk to Ryan, but Sarah's still all over him," she mumbled. I rolled my eyes at Melanie and looked over at Ryan, who looked desperate to be saved.

I chuckled to myself before yelling, "Hey, whore!" Sarah did a double take at me and I spoke again, "Yeah, I'm talking to you! Leave him alone! He's obviously not into you!"

Sarah looked at him and he smiled sheepishly and shrugged. She turned around and stomped out the door, her heels being heard even when she was out the door.

"Oh my God, thank you!" Ryan breathed a sigh of relief and pulled me into a hug.

I chuckled and hugged him back, "You've just gotta know how to handle her." I pulled away and slid over next to Melanie, nudging her away from the window and over to Ryan.

-Melanie-

Ryan and I talked about anything and everything until the security guard told us our time was up. I reluctantly stood up from where we were sitting, as did Ryan.

"Well, um, it was great talking to you, Ryan..." I said quietly.

He chuckled, "No need to be nervous. I'm just a normal guy."

"A really famous normal guy," I smiled.

"Exactly!" he laughed. He pulled me into a hug and didn't let go for a while. I was shocked at first, but I gladly hugged him back.

"Oh!" I said, pulling Whatever out of my bag, "Before I forget, do you think you guys could sign this for me?"

"Yeah, sure!" Ryan exclaimed, grabbing my free hand and pulling me over to the table where Jamie, Ian, and Nash were sitting. They all signed the CD and Danielle and I gave them hugs before we walked out the door.

Before I was all the way out, I turned back and pointed at Ryan, "By the way, thanks for not wearing a shirt that covers that tattoo."

He smiled, "No problem."

When Danielle and I climbed into the car, she squealed, "Oh my God, he is so into you!"

"No, he's not," I replied, playfully hitting her arm.

"He was flirting with you the whole time!"

"He was just being nice," I said.

"And flirting!" she laughed. We buckled up our seatbelts and Danielle pulled out of the parking lot. "So did you get his number?" she winked at me.

"No," I said quietly.

"Why not?" she asked, looking over at me.

"Eyes on the road, missy!" I yelled, "I don't know. Even if he was flirting with me, it was probably a one-time thing. He'll probably meet another girl tonight and he'll like her more." I heard Danielle sigh, but she didn't say anything. She just turned on the radio.

"And here's Hot Chelle Rae with Tonight Tonight," we heard the DJ say.

I looked at Danielle and we started cracking up, turning up the volume and rolling down the windows, screaming every word.

~

Title: "That Girl" by All Time Low


	3. It was Like a Time-Bomb Set into Motion

-Melanie-

I drug myself out of bed the next morning, sore from all the dancing I did. As I walked carefully down the stairs, I could hear the TV on in the living room playing what appeared to be Spongebob Squarepants.

"Danielle, I swear, you are such a little kid," I laughed as I walked into the kitchen.

"It's Saturday morning cartoons! You don't just not watch them!" she yelled.

I sat down on the couch a few minutes later with my bowl of cereal, shoving Lucky Charms into my mouth.

"You love Lucky Charms a little too much, Mel," Danielle said.

"You love Saturday morning cartoons a little too much," I replied, sticking my tongue out at her.

~

A couple minutes after I was done eating, my phone rang. It was some unknown number, but I answered it anyway.

"Hello?" I said once I pressed my phone to the side of my head.

"Um, Melanie?"

"Yeah... Who's this?"

"Ryan!"

"Ryan..."

I took a big sip of my orange juice as I heard the guy on the other line chuckle, "Follese." I started coughing, nearly choking on my drink. "Are you okay?" Ryan asked when I calmed down.

"I don't mean to be rude or anything, but how did you get my number?" I asked, trying to steady my breathing.

"Jamie said he got it from your friend." I looked up at Danielle and she was grinning like an idiot.

"Danielle!" I screamed and threw a pillow at her.

She blocked it, "What? I knew you weren't going to give it to him yourself!" I grabbed another pillow and she jumped off the couch and ran upstairs. "You'll thank me for this later, Mel!" she yelled.

"Uh, Melanie?" I heard on the phone.

"Yes..." I said, dragging out the 'e'.

Ryan chuckled again, "I'm guessing you didn't know about this."

"No, not at all," I answered honestly.

"Well, in my defense, I didn't know Jamie had your number until about 5 minutes ago when he begged me to call you."

"He begged you to call me?"

"Something about love at first sight or whatever." I started humming Whatever and I heard Ryan laugh, "Humming my song?"

"Oh, sorry... It's kind of an involuntary thing. I've become so used to doing it, it just happens sometimes..."

I could hear the smile in his voice, "That's cute. And between you, me, Jamie, Nash, and Ian, I sing along to our songs when they're on the radio."

"Seriously?" I laughed.

"Yeah. It's especially great when we're at a mall or something and one of our songs starts playing. I get the 'How the hell do you sound just like him?' look."

"They really never put it together?"

"You'd think they would, but no. We do get a few girls every now and then start screaming."

I chuckled, "I'm sure."

"So, anyway, about why I was calling."

"Aside from Jamie begging you to?"

He laughed, "Yes. I was wondering, you know, maybe if you're not busy tonight, you'd want to possibly go out with me...?"

"You mean, like a date?"

"Yeah... Unless you don't want to call it a date! Then we can just call it two people getting to know each other over dinner and a walk around the city."

I smiled, "What time?"

"I was thinking 5," he said.

"It's a date then."

He smiled again, "Great! I'll see you at 5!"

I laughed lightly, "Bye." I hung up my phone and screamed quietly. My head shot up when I heard someone jump into the living room.

Danielle pointed at me and screamed, "I knew it! I told you he was into you! Did I not tell you he was into you? Because I think I did!"

I ran over to her and tackle-hugged her, "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"Don't thank me. It was Jamie's idea to get you two together."

"We're not together. We're just going out on a date."

"Not yet, you aren't," she sang. She grabbed my hand and pulled me up the stairs into my room, "Let's find you an outfit! What are you doing?"

"Dinner then walking around the city," I replied.

"Alright, so something not too casual, but not too formal. I think I can make that happen." She opened my closet doors and stared into it for a few minutes before pulling out a few things and laying the completed outfit on my bed. She squealed and clapped her hands, "Perfect!"

After taking a shower, I stood over my bed, looking at the clothes Danielle laid out for me before sighing and putting them on.

"Are you sure this isn't too casual?" I asked as I slipped on my shoes.

"Who's your stylist?" Danielle asked, putting her hand on her hip.

I rolled my eyes and laughed, "You are."

"Then don't worry about it. He'll think you're the hottest thing he's ever laid his pretty little eyes on!"

"I don't know about that one," I mumbled.

Danielle sighed, "You need to get it through your head that you're nothing less than beautiful and any guy who says otherwise is blind."

"Well, you're obviously blind because there were a lot of prettier girls at the concert last night," I replied, tying my shoe before standing up.

"Then I guess Ryan is blind because he asked you out, yeah? But trust me when I tell you he's into you. Whether you want to admit it to yourself or not is your choice." We heard a knock on the door and Danielle screamed, running out of the room, "Called it!"

"What?! No!" I yelled back, running after her. I ran past her and she pulled back on my shirt, getting in front of me. I grabbed her shirt ready to pull her back as well, but she was already ripping the door open. Ryan looked at the hand that was holding Danielle's shirt and I let go quickly.

He chuckled and said, "Ready to go?"

I nodded and he held out his hand. I stared at it and Danielle elbowed my side. I looked at her and she nodded toward his hand. I slowly extended my arm out to him and he grabbed my hand, pulling me outside.

As Ryan and I were walking to his car, I silently thanked him for not being too dressed up. He walked me over to the passenger side, letting go of my hand to open the door for me. I smiled at him as I climbed in and he closed the door before running to the other side of the car. I was playing with my fingers as we sat in comfortable silence until reaching the restaurant.

I looked out the window and chuckled, "Olive Garden?"

Ryan smiled, "Isn't this where all first dates happen?"

"I suppose they do," I laughed, unbuckling my seatbelt and reaching to open my door.

"Hold on!" Ryan yelled, jumping out of the car and running to my side, opening my door for me. "Ladies should always have doors opened for them."

"Well, aren't you such a gentleman?" I giggled, stepping out onto the pavement.

"Why, yes. Yes, I am," he smiled, closing the door. He stuck his elbow out toward me and said, "Shall we, Miss Pandocchi?"

I linked my arm with his and smiled, "We shall, Mr. Follese."

Dinner was dinner. I may or may not have eaten all the breadsticks before our actual meal got there, and I may or may not have smacked Ryan's hand when he reached for one. I hope they realize they're wasting a lot of food by putting breadsticks out 20 minutes before you actually get what you ordered, but no one asked me.

When the check got to us, Ryan and I had a 10 minute argument about paying. Lucky for him, our waitress came back for the check while I was in the bathroom.

I got back to the table and looked at a grinning Ryan and said, "She came back while I was gone, didn't she?" He shrugged, still grinning. "I will pay you back for that, Ryan."

He smiled, standing up, "Alright, alright. How?"

"I'll let you come up with that," I said as he grabbed my hand and we walked outside to his car. He opened the door for me again and walked over to his side of the car with a smile on his face. He drove to the park, so there was another 10 minutes of comfortable silence. "Should I even bother?" I asked, gesturing toward the door handle.

"Nope," Ryan replied, smiling. He got out and jogged to my side of the car again, opening the door. As I stood up and walked out of the way of the door, he leaned toward me and whispered, "You look beautiful, by the way."

I looked down at the ground and bit my lip, fighting the urge to giggle like an idiot. I heard the car door shut behind me and I felt Ryan grab my hand again, interlocking our fingers. I looked at our hands and smiled before looking back up in front of me. We talked about everything and nothing again, which kind of shocked me, because I thought there was nothing else to talk about.

"So, I figured out what you can do to pay me back," Ryan said after another one of our comfortable silences.

"And what might that be?"

"Let me kiss you," he said. I looked up at him and he looked down at me. "I don't mean a quick one, but I don't mean a makeout session."

"Um, s-sure," I stuttered. He rested his hand on my cheek and started leaning closer to me.

I closed my eyes, and I could feel his breath on my face, when I heard "It's been a really, really messed up week. Seven days of torture, seven days of bitter, and my girlfriend went and cheated on me. She's a California dime, but it's time for me to quit her." coming from my pocket. I jumped and backed away from Ryan trying to quickly pull my phone out.

"What?!" I answered as Ryan chuckled at what I was assuming was my ringtone.

"Get on Twitter!" I heard Danielle say quickly.

"Why? I'm kinda busy right now."

"Melanie, I am sorry I'm ruining your date, but get the fuck on Twitter right now!" she nearly screamed.

I moved my phone away from my ear before she busted my eardrum, "Alright. Jesus. Hold on." I put Danielle on speaker and pushed a couple keys, logging into Twitter, only to find my timeline full of tweets by Sarah.

@SarahhAlexiss: Why would he asked her out

@SarahhAlexiss: What does she think she's doing with him

@SarahhAlexiss: I can't believe that whore stole my man

I couldn't believe what I was reading. He was never hers, and I'm most certainly not a whore.

"What... I don't... How..." I tried to form sentences, but it wasn't working.

Ryan took my phone out of my shaking hand and read the tweets with the same shocked expression I had, "Um, she'll have to call you back, Danielle."

"Yeah, sure, Ryan. No problem. I love you, Mel!" she said before hanging up.

I looked down at my shoes, running my hand through my hair, trying to stop the tears from falling. I hated crying in front of people, and the fact that the person standing in front of me was Ryan Follese wasn't helping.

"Hey, Melanie, you okay?" I shrugged and tried to sniffle quietly, but I knew he heard it. "Mel... Look at me," he said, putting his index and middle finger under my chin, lifting my head up to look at him. He smiled softly at me and moved his hands to the sides of my face, wiping the tears I failed at holding in. When he was done, he didn't move his hands back down. He kept them on my cheeks and said, "Don't listen to her. She's just jealous. She'll get over it."

I shook my head, "You don't know her like I do. She won't let it go. She'll do anything possible to make my life more of a living hell than she already does."

"Well, she's just going to have to get over it, because she's not the one I like," Ryan said, smiling at me.

"Oh, you like Danielle, don't you?" I asked sarcastically.

"Yeah, I asked you out because I like your friend, Mel," he laughed.

I sighed dramatically, "I knew it! She's a player, that girl is."

Ryan laughed again before almost whispering, "You're not expecting any more calls, are you?"

"Um, no, I don't think I am," I said, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Good," he smiled before taking my face in his hands again and leaning toward me.

Only this time, our lips connected.

~

Title: "Time-Bomb" by All Time Low


	4. Me and You Living Under a Paper Moon

-Melanie-

I walked through my front door a little past 11pm and Danielle turned around on the spinning recliner we had.

"And where have you been, young lady?" she asked, her arms crossed over her chest.

"What?" I asked, slightly confused.

"Sorry," she started laughing, "I've always wanted to do that. Tell me how you're date went! I want every detail!" I chuckled and sat down on the couch, telling her everything that happened. "Did you kiss him?" she asked, bouncing in her seat.

I looked at her, trying to hide my grin, "I don't kiss and tell."

"Oh my God!" she screamed, "You so did! You kissed Ryan Keith Follese! Was it everything you've ever dreamed it would be?!"

I shrugged, "It was alright, I guess."

"Alright, my ass. You loved every second of it!"

I grinned, "Yeah. I did."

Danielle clapped and squealed, "This is so cute! Oh my God, you guys are adorable! So, I was thinking while you were out, and I think I've come up with the perfect couple name for you two."

"One, we're not even a couple. Two, do I even want to know?" I asked, slightly worried.

"Yes, you want to know! It's the most genius thing I've come up with since giving Jamie your number so Ryan could call you!"

I looked at her questioningly for a few seconds before speaking, "Alright, let me hear it."

"Myan. Get it? It's like Mayan, but it only has one 'a'."

I tried desperately not to bust out laughing as I looked at the grin on her face, "Danielle. You know I love you, but if you ever refer to us as that around anyone, I will not hesitate to hit you in public."

She thought for a moment, "I'll take it. Well, I'm gonna go to bed!" She did a little happy dance out of the living room, "Goodnight, lovely. Have beautiful dreams about your wedding with Ryan."

"What was that?!" I called after her.

"Nothing!" she sang.

~

When I woke up the next morning to my phone ringing, I pressed the green button and groaned, "What?"

"Well, good morning to you too," Ryan said, "I'm guessing you're either not in a good mood or I woke you up."

I rubbed my eyes, sighing and sitting up, "Let's go with the second one."

"Do you want me to call you back later?"

"No, I'm already awake. What's up?"

"I was wondering if you and Danielle wanted to hang out with me and Jamie today."

"I think she's still sleeping, but let me go ask her," I said, grabbing my pillow and standing up, walking over to Danielle's room. "Hey," I said, hitting her in the face with my pillow, "Wake up."

She mumbled a few words I'm not going to repeat before opening her eyes, "What could possibly be so important that you needed to wake me up at," she looked at her clock, "10:30 in the morning?"

"Ryan wants to know if we want to hang out with him and Jamie today."

She smiled when I mentioned Jamie, "Sure."

I smiled and walked back to my room, going back to my conversation with Ryan, "She said sure."

I could hear his smile, "Great! I think Jamie likes her."

"How do you know?"

"Well, he won't stop talking about her and he keeps complaining about how he never got her number the other night."

"Why didn't you tell me? We could have done what they did to us!"

"Well, I didn't think of it! Geesh," he laughed.

I chuckled, "So, what time did you want to hang out?"

"Whenever you're ready."

"Alright, give us half an hour."

"Got it. We'll pick you up then."

"Bye, Ryan," I smiled.

"See you later, Mel," he smiled and hung up.

I walked over to Danielle's room again and saw her still laying down, "Bitch, get up. They're gonna be here in half an hour."

She instantly sat up on her bed and yelled, "Half an hour?! I can't get ready in half an hour!"

"Dude, it's just Jamie and Ryan. They're not gonna care," I laughed at her as she scrambled around her room.

"Maybe so, but I'm certainly not going to ignore the fact that two very attractive members of the male species want to hang out with us."

"Trust me, Danielle. You've got nothing to worry about."

"Easy for you to say! You and Ryan are practically boyfriend and girlfriend already!"

"Danielle, when have I ever lied to you?"

"This would be the first time..."

"Exactly! Trust me when I tell you that you have absolutely nothing to worry about. Sources tell me the boy already likes you."

"But he's met me. Why would he like me?"

"I don't have all the answers. I just know what Ryan told me, and what Ryan told me was that he hasn't shut up about you."

"He hasn't shut up about me?" she grinned, asking the question more to herself than me.

I shrugged, "Just get ready. We've got 20 minutes."

"No pressure," she mumbled.

I laughed and walked out of her room, leaving her to get dressed while I got dressed myself.

~

As promised, Jamie and Ryan knocked on our front door 20 minutes later.

"Called it!" I screamed.

"Obviously! I'll be right down!" Danielle yelled back.

I opened the door and saw Ryan standing there with a very nervous looking Jamie. I chuckled, "Jamie, you don't need to be nervous. You should have seen the smile on her face when I said you were hanging out with us." Jamie grinned, relaxing a bit.

Danielle trotted down the stairs a few seconds later and bit her lip, trying to hide her smile when she saw Jamie. I'm guessing Ryan saw it as well because he smirked before he grabbed my hand and pulled me outside. Danielle grabbed the house key and quickly followed, making sure the door was locked before closing the door behind her.

"So, what are we doing on this fine day, gentlemen?" I asked. Almost on cue, we heard Danielle's stomach growl and she held it, blushing slightly.

"Well, I know what we're doing first," Ryan chuckled, "The question is what do you want?"

"Pizza!" Danielle yelled.

"At 11 in the morning?" I laughed.

"Pizza!" she yelled again.

"Pizza it is," Ryan smiled, opening the passenger door to his car for me. I watched as Jamie ran in front of Danielle, opening the back driver's side door for her. She smiled and quietly thanked him, climbing into the car.

The way to the pizza place was about a 15 minute drive, and the comfortable silence for Ryan and I obviously wasn't comfortable for Danielle because she suddenly said, "I've been a part of a lot of awkward silences, but this has got to be the most awkward so far."

"I don't feel awkward, do you Ry?" I said, looking at Ryan.

"Not one bit, Mel," he laughed lightly.

"Of course it's just me," Danielle mumbled before turning her attention to the window.

I saw Ryan give his brother a look and Jamie said, "So... How is everyone?"

Danielle didn't make the effort to answer, so I did, "I'm doing wonderful, Jamie. Thanks for asking."

5 minutes later, Ryan pulled into the parking lot and Danielle nearly jumped out of the car, running inside.

"Either she doesn't like me as much as you said she did, or she's really hungry," Jamie sighed.

"She's really hungry, and we might want to get in there before she eats everything." I giggled lightly.

We all climbed out, walking inside to find Danielle already sitting at a table. She was bouncing in her seat and I could tell she was playing with her fingers under the table. I sat across from her, Ryan beside me, and Jamie next to her. Our waitress came over and took our orders and walked away.

After 5 minutes of small talk while waiting for our pizza, I looked at Danielle, who had her bottom lip stuck out.

"What are you doing?" I asked, laughing.

"I want my food," she pouted.

"Have patience, child. Good things come to those who wait."

"I've been waiting to go to Disneyland for almost 19 years, and I still don't have that, so shush."

"Someone gets angry when she's hungry," Ryan said. Danielle glared at him before squealing when our food was brought to us. She almost jumped onto Jamie reaching for a slice of pizza. He looked over at her as she took a bite.

She froze and looked back at him and innocently said, "My bad." She slowly moved the pizza back to her mouth, taking another bite as Ryan and I laughed at her.

"Funny. She does the same thing when she's mad, except 50 times worse and she doesn't apologize afterwards," I teased.

"Remind me not to get on her bad side," Ryan chuckled. Danielle smiled at him and reached for another piece of pizza, more calmly.

She smiled at Jamie, and he laughed at her, "Thank you for not almost killing me this time."

"I did not almost kill you. The most damage I could have done was bruise that pretty little face of yours," she replied, poking his nose and turning back to face me. I saw Jamie's face turn a light red and I laughed quietly.

~

"So, what are we doing now?" Danielle asked, skipping back to the car.

"How about some mini-golf?" Jamie suggested.

Danielle spun around and pointed at him, "You. You are my new best friend."

"Danielle!" I gasped.

"What? It's like the kid knows me." I started frowning and she giggled and kissed my cheek, "Stop, you know I love you."

I wiped my cheek with my hand and screamed, "Ew! Cooties!"

Danielle stuck out her bottom lip again and Ryan smirked, "I bet Jamie wouldn't wipe away a kiss." Jamie looked at Ryan with a shocked expression and Danielle took the opportunity to kiss his cheek before running like a mad woman back to the car and jumping in.

"Aw, look. He's blushing," I laughed.

"I am not," Jamie mumbled before climbing into the car.

"You can't hide now, Danielle," I laughed as I sat down in my seat.

"Shit, I didn't plan that far ahead," she looked around and then at Jamie before moving her hand in front of her face, "There. It's foolproof."

Jamie reached over and moved her hand out of the way, "Not quite." She sighed dramatically, turning her head to look out the window.

Jamie reached over and surprised her by kissing her cheek, moving back quickly, looking out his own window and pretending not to notice her staring at him. She bit her lip and smiled, looking down and playing with her fingers, letting her hair fall over her face.

We played a game of mini-golf before leaving to go to the park. We were sitting at a picnic table when I noticed Ryan was being unusually quiet.

"Is something wrong?" I asked.

"No, nothing's wrong. It's just... We leave again tomorrow and..."

"You don't want to do long distance?" I asked quietly.

"What? Of course I do! Just... I know we barely know you two, but I think it would be cool if you guys came with us... If you wanted to..."

"You know we'd love to, Ry. It's just that we have jobs and we can't just leave on such short notice," I replied sadly.

"But," Danielle smiled, "We can make you a deal."

"What kind of deal?" Ryan asked.

"If you go without us now and give us enough notice next time, we promise to go with you on your next tour."

Ryan and Jamie looked at each other and Ryan said, "Deal."

He reached his arm across the table and Danielle shook it. Jamie shrugged and reached his arm across to me as well and I took his hand, laughing. Danielle and I then shook hands as did Jamie and Ryan. Then Ryan and I, and Jamie and Danielle.

I saw her pull her hand away quickly and look away smiling. Jamie leaned over and whispered something in her ear, to which she nodded and they both smiled. I raised my eyebrow at her and she gave me the 'I'll tell you later' look.

I shrugged as Ryan stood up, "Well, it's getting late, ladies. We should be getting you home."

Danielle yawned, standing up as well, "I don't wanna go home!"

"Your yawn says otherwise," Jamie laughed.

"Come on, let's get in the car, sleepy," I smiled.

"But the car's so far away!" she whined, "Jamie! Carry me!"

"The car is literally not even 30 feet away," he said.

She jumped on his back, "I don't care. I want you to carry me." Jamie sighed and we walked back to the car. She hopped off of him and got in the car.

We had an almost 25 minute ride back to our house, so I wasn't all that surprised when Danielle fell asleep 5 minutes in. I looked in the rearview mirror and saw her head fall onto Jamie's shoulder and he smiled, kissing the top of her head.

"Do you want me to wake her up?" I asked when Ryan pulled into the driveway.

"No, it's okay. I'll take her if you just point me to where I'm going," Jamie replied, carefully getting out of the car and reaching back in, picking Danielle up. She mumbled and leaned her head on Jamie's shoulder. We all walked into the house and I told Jamie where Danielle's room was.

He went upstairs and I turned to Ryan, "When do you guys come back?"

"Three months," Ryan said sadly. I smiled lightly and wrapped my arms around his neck.

"You'll be back before you know it," I said quietly. He wrapped his arms around my waist and kissed me lightly.

"I like her posters," Jamie smirked when he came back into the room. Ryan gave me a questioning look.

"Your band. Mostly of Jamie though. She's always had a crush on him," I laughed, "She's going to die when she finds out you saw her posters," I said to Jamie.

"I won't tell if you guys won't," Jamie chuckled.

"Our little secret," I smiled.

"I'm gonna go wait in the car, Ryan. Please don't be too long. I'd like to get some sleep tonight too," Jamie said, walking out the door.

"I've heard what people say about long distance relationships, but I think I'd like to try it out," Ryan said.

"I think I would too, Ryan," I smiled.

"So will you be my girlfriend?"

I grinned, "Of course I will." Ryan kissed me again, then let go of me, walking toward the door.

When he was halfway out the door, he turned around, "I'll see you in three months, Mel."

I gave him a small smile, "Three months, Ry." He smiled lightly at me, then turned back around, closing the door behind him.

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding as I walked upstairs to my room, knowing this was about to be a long three months.

~

Title: "Under a Paper Moon" by All Time Low


	5. The Distance is What's Killing Me

-Melanie-

Beep. Beep. Beep.

I slammed my hand down on my alarm clock. It was 7am, and Danielle and I had to go to work. I faintly heard her alarm beeping through her door. I groaned, standing up and walking over to her room. I opened the door, walking in and shutting her alarm off, shaking her.

"Danielle, come on," I said, "We have to get ready for work."

"No," she said, burying her face in her pillow.

I sighed, "I know you don't like getting up early, but you love your job."

"Correction: I love our boss, not my job."

"Well, do you think Eli would like it if we were late?"

"Probably not, but I know he wouldn't care."

"Come on. What's really going on?"

She sighed, "I wanna see Jamie."

"And I want to see Ryan, but they'll be back in three months. It'll go by like that," I said, snapping my fingers.

Danielle sat up, "I'm going insane. I haven't known him for a week and I already feel like one of those stupid clingy girlfriends."

"Girlfriend?" I asked, raising my eyebrow.

She smiled sheepishly, "Yeah. He asked me to be his girlfriend last night when we were in the park."

I threw my arms around her, "Congratulations! You know, if we marry them, we would be sisters-in-law."

"Are you and Ry and thing now?" I nodded and she hugged me, "Told you." I laughed and she pushed me off of her bed, "Get out of my room and go get dressed. You look like a homeless person."

"Oh, look who's talking," I teased, walking out.

~

We were ready in about 10 minutes and, after grabbing everything we needed, were out the door.

"Hey, Eli!" Danielle said when we walked in the back door of the local diner we waitressed at Monday through Thursday.

"Hey, girls! How was your concert?" he asked with a smile on his face.

"It was only the best thing ever!" Danielle practically yelled.

"Yeah, I wasn't the only one eyeing a member of the band, you know," I giggled.

Danielle pushed on my shoulder, laughing, "Whatever." We both looked at each other and started singing the chorus of Whatever.

We all laughed and Eli said, "Well, we've got four guys already waiting out there, so, why don't you girls get to work, huh?"

"Yes, sir!" we saluted, still laughing.

When we walked out to the front we saw the last four people we expected to see that day. We looked at each other and signaled Nash and Ian to be quiet, seeing as they were the ones facing where Danielle and I were standing. We walked up behind Ryan and Jamie and put our hands over their eyes. They both jumped as their hands found our wrists.

Nash and Ian were laughing as I whispered in Ryan's ear, "Guess who."

"Um, Megan Fox?" he smirked.

"You wish," I laughed as I removed my hands from his eyes and he turned around to look at me, smiling. Danielle still had her hands over Jamie's eyes, making him guess who she was as well.

He kept throwing out hilarious guesses and she finally said, "No, it's the most amazing person you've ever met in your entire life."

"Demi Lovato?" he chuckled. She moved her hands away from his eyes and crossed her arms over her chest and Jamie turned around to see her pouting. He chuckled and pulled her into his lap. "I'm just kidding, Danielle. I could never forget you," he said seriously, kissing her nose. She smiled and wrapped her arms around him, burying her face into his neck.

"I didn't know you guys worked here!" Ryan said happily.

"I didn't know you guys would be here!" I mocked him.

"Huh, cute. It's not very nice to make fun of people, you know."

"Do you want food?"

"Yes."

"Then I'll make fun of you all I want," I smirked.

"And what if I said no?" he asked, grinning.

I smiled at him before turning to Ian, Nash, and Jamie, "Anything I can get for you boys?"

"We'll just take coffee," Nash laughed.

"Can I get a Coke this early?" Jamie asked.

I was about to answer when Danielle interrupted, jumping off of Jamie, "Two coffees and a Coke, coming right up!" She ran back to the counter and came back a couple minutes later carrying two cups of coffee and one glass of Coke.

Ryan stuck out his bottom lip, "What about me?"

"What about you?" I smiled innocently.

"Don't I get coffee too?" I shrugged and he said seriously, "Do I have to sing to you?"

I nodded, "Forever Unstoppable chorus, please!"

He laughed and sang, "You can take my heart if yours won't beat. We're forever unstoppable. If you're torn apart, I'll make you see that nothing's impossible. When you're broken and you're shattered, love will save you from disaster. You can take my heart if yours won't beat. We're forever, forever, forever unstoppable."

I smiled sweetly at him and walked to the coffee maker, coming back a few seconds later. "Your coffee, my fabulous singer," I said, putting his cup in front of him.

"Now, what would it take to get a kiss?"

"I don't know. You might have to write me a song for that one."

"How about you kiss me, and I'll dedicate Forever Unstoppable to you from now until forever at concerts?" I bent down and kissed his lips.

"I guess I'm cool with that," I smiled, pulling away.

"I'd really hate to cut this reunion short, but we'd better get going if we don't want to be late for the show we've got tonight," Ian said, standing up. Ryan stood up and pulled me into a hug, as did Jamie with Danielle.

"Okay, this time, it really is three months," Ryan chuckled.

"I don't care how many times you sing to me, if I see you in here before November, you're not getting shit from me," I smiled.

"You only mean from this restaurant, right? I'd still get kisses and hugs?"

I shrugged, "We'll see."

He rested his hands on my hips, "How about one for the road?"

I grinned, "I suppose that'll work." He smiled and leaned in, kissing me.

We pulled away and looked at Jamie and Danielle and she turned her head last minute, causing Jamie to kiss her cheek. I sighed and looked back at Ryan, seeing him look back at me with a confused look.

"She's had a bad history with guys," I said simply.

"Jamie wouldn't hurt her," he said quietly.

"And I can tell she knows that, she just doesn't want to believe it. He may be her celebrity crush, but that won't stop her from building her walls."

"How do we get her to believe it?"

"Give her time. When she knows, she'll know. We can't rush her. She'll just feel pressured."

Ryan sighed, "Alright, well, I guess we'll see you girls in three months." He kissed me again and smiled before pulling away. "Come on, Jaim," he said, walking outside.

I watched him as he hugged Danielle and said, "Three months, okay? I'll be back before you can miss me."

"Too late," she mumbled into his neck. His grip on her tightened and I heard her sniffle before he let go and kissed her cheek again. He gave her a small smile before walking over to me.

I gave him a hug and whispered, "Just give her time, Jamie." He pulled back and nodded before walking out to their bus. Danielle and I gave Nash and Ian hugs as well before they all walked out.

"Do you think I made a mistake by not kissing him?" Danielle asked as we watched the bus pull out of the small parking lot.

"No. You just weren't ready. There's no problem with that," I answered.

"But you and Ryan already have."

"Everyone's ready at different times, babe, and I'm sure Jamie understands that," I said, draping my arm across her shoulder as we walked behind the counter, waiting for more customers to come in and start the longest three months of our lives.

~

Title: "The Distance" by Hot Chelle Rae


	6. You're Running Circles in My Head

-Melanie-

*Two and a half months later*

Danielle and I were on the couch watching whatever shitty movies were on Lifetime just like every other day after work. The good thing about our job, aside from Eli being the best boss ever, is we work 7:30am to 12pm. And it's not that we don't like Lifetime, we just like to make fun of the acting, but we could go over that another time.

Danielle was laying down, her legs hanging over the armrest, and I was sitting on the seat beside her head. There was a knock on the door, and usually, Danielle was the first one calling it. I already knew why she didn't this time, because it was the same reason she hadn't been for the past two weeks. She'd always gotten her hopes up when she answered the door, thinking the band would be home early, but each time, it was never them, so she just gave up.

"You've really got to stop moping around," I said, standing up and walking over to the door. "They'll be back in-" I stopped when I opened it and grinned widely, "-right now."

"Ha, ha. Very funny. You're only saying that so I'll get up and be happy for a split second, only to find out Jamie isn't really standing there with some stupid grin on his face, just waiting for me to jump into his arms," she said, not bothering to look away from the TV.

"So that's completely out of the question then?" Jamie asked, stepping into the house. Danielle sat up slowly and turned her head toward the front door.

Her eyes were starting to get watery and she screamed, "Jamie!" before hopping off the couch and jumping into his arms.

Ryan walked toward me, wrapping his arms around my waist and kissing me. Had it not been the fact that I needed to breathe, I probably wouldn't have pulled away.

"What are you guys doing here?" I asked excitedly.

"The last few shows of the tour got cancelled because the headlining band had some personal things to take care of," Jamie said, still holding Danielle.

"So, about that deal we made about touring," Ryan said, looking at Danielle.

"What about it?" she mumbled into Jamie's shoulder.

"You can't mumble, this is exciting news!"

She moved her head slightly so her voice wasn't so muffled this time, "You're going to have to work with this then, because I'm not moving from this spot anytime soon."

Jamie chuckled and hugged her tighter as Ryan continued, "We got an offer to go on tour in the U.K. and we're doing it, and since you girls promised, you're coming with us."

"Seriously?" Danielle asked, finally lifting herself off of Jamie.

"Seriously," Ryan repeated.

"Whoa," I said, "Slow down. Part of the deal was us having enough notice. When does the tour start?"

"Next month," Ryan replied.

"Shit," I mumbled. "Um, I'll be right back." I walked upstairs to my room and sat down on my bed, running my hands through my hair.

-Ryan-

I watched as Melanie went up the stairs. I looked at Danielle, but she had her eyes on the hallway Mel just walked down. She didn't even look at me, but I could tell she knew what I was thinking when she started talking.

"When Mel and I were seniors, we had this chance to go to Spain with our Spanish class," she explained, "Everything was packed and ready and we met our class at the airport. We got on the plane, and everything was fine until we were about to land." She turned to face me, "Only the back two tires came out. The front one got stuck, and we hit the runway. We luckily weren't going fast enough to do any major damage and no one was killed. The worst injury was a guy having to get stitches in his forehead from hitting the window when we landed. They wouldn't tell us how or why it happened. She doesn't like to bring it up, but I know she's still terrified of it."

"Where is she?" I asked quietly.

"First door on the left," Danielle said.

"Thanks," I whispered, running up the steps.

I knocked, and I faintly heard Melanie say, "It's open." I turned the handle and saw her sitting on her bed, playing with her phone. She looked up at me and I sat beside her.

"You don't have to go if you don't want to," I told her.

"But I promised I would."

"That was before you knew where we were going. No one could have guess we'd be offered to go to a different country, much less a country overseas."

"But I still promised. And I want to go with you guys. It's just... Flying... And... I don't know. I'm just being stupid," she looked down again.

"You're not being stupid. What would be stupid is if you hated flying because the peanuts don't have enough salt on them."

She giggled and said, "But what if that's another reason?"

"Well, I'll bring a jar of peanuts for you," I smiled.

"Would you even if the peanuts on the plane had the perfect amount of salt on them?"

"If you want me to, I will."

"Okay," she said.

"So does that mean you'll go?"

"I guess so, but you have to sit beside me."

"I wouldn't want to sit by anyone else," I smiled, kissing her forehead. All of a sudden, we heard screaming coming from downstairs and we ran out to see what it was.

"J-J-Jamie! S-Stop!" Danielle yelled in between laughs as Jamie tickled her stomach.

"Never!" Jamie yelled back.

"Are we interrupting something?" I asked, chuckling.

Jamie stopped tickling Danielle and said, "Not at all." Once his hands were away from her, Danielle stood up and ran over behind me and Melanie.

"He was being a bully," she pouted.

"Aw," I laughed, wrapping my arms around her shoulders, "It'll be okay. We won't let him be mean to you anymore."

"Why are you taking her side?! She started it!" Jamie yelled, faking anger.

"Alright, what did she do?" Melanie asked, trying not to laugh.

"She said she was better looking than I am," Jamie replied simply. Melanie and I looked at each other and started cracking up. "What?!" Jamie yelled again.

"It's not nice to bully people who are better looking than you, Jamie," Melanie said, still laughing.

"HA!" Danielle pointed at Jamie, "I told you I was better looking!"

"It's not nice to point at people, missy!" Melanie said. Melanie and I looked at each other and grinned as I took my arms away from Danielle's shoulders.

"Oh, God. Please don't do it," Danielle said, looking at us.

"Too late!" Melanie pushed on Danielle's back so she stumbled toward Jamie.

He started tickling her again and she screamed in between laughs, "You guys suck!"

Danielle smirked when Jamie stopped for a split second, grabbing his face and kissing his lips. We could tell he was shocked, but he kissed her back, wrapping his arms around her waist.

"I win," she smiled when they pulled away a couple seconds later.

Jamie breathed in deeply, "You win this battle, but the war isn't over." She smiled at him and gave him another kiss.

~

"What do you have to eat around here? I'm starved from all that traveling," Jamie asked as we walked into the kitchen.

"We have Lucky Charms, Mini Wheats, Frosted Flakes..." Melanie replied.

"So only cereal?" I asked, laughing.

She shrugged, "Yeah, pretty much."

"No, Mel. We have those popsicles in the freezer," Danielle said.

"Yeah, but God knows how long those have been there," Melanie laughed.

"Whatever, we still have them!"

Melanie and Danielle looked at each other and Melanie said, "Nope. Not gonna go it."

"Must... Resist..." Danielle said.

Jamie looked at me questioningly as I just laughed, "Go ahead." Melanie, Danielle, and I all started singing Whatever, and when Jamie caught on, he joined us.

We all laughed when we were done and Danielle said, "Why don't we just go out to eat?"

"Yeah, I'd much rather eat something other than cereal today," Melanie laughed. The girls started to reach for their wallets before Jamie and I grabbed their hands.

"Nope," I said. "We're buying."

"But you guys just got home! We wanna buy you food," Danielle protested.

"I don't think so," Jamie said, "You guys obviously can't afford anything other than cereal."

Melanie put her hand on her chest and gasped, "Jamie! I take offense to that!"

"You know it's true," I said, sticking my tongue out at her.

"It's not true! We've just eaten everything in the house and have been too lazy to get more food," Danielle shrugged.

"We buy, you pick the place," Jamie said, putting his arm around Danielle's shoulder, pulling her toward the door.

"No arguments. It'll be like a double date," I said, grabbing Melanie's hand and following Jamie and Danielle.

"But what if we-"

Danielle started before Jamie interrupted her, "We're not splitting either."

She sighed, "Fine."

Jamie opened the door and Danielle yelled, "Wait!"

"What?" I groaned.

"I was just gonna say Mel and I need to get our phones. No need for the attitude, Mr. Follese."

"Alright, you've got 10 seconds," I smirked. They ran upstairs and I started counting down, "5... 4... 3... 2..."

Before I said 1, they jumped off the last step and high-fived each other, yelling, "Made it!" and laughing.

"Come on!" Jamie whined, "I'm hungry!"

Danielle stuck out her arm toward him, "And I'm Danielle. Pleasure meeting you."

Jamie looked at her, "Ha, ha, ha. Aren't you adorable?"

"Yes, yes I am. We already had this discussion."

Melanie pushed them both outside and said, "Break it up, you two. Let's go eat!"

And with that, we were out the door.

~

Title: "Fireworks" by You Me At Six


	7. She Thinks She's the Queen of the Scene

-Melanie-

"I did not! That was all you!" Danielle yelled, laughing.

"Well, someone had to have tripped me, because I certainly didn't do it!" I jokingly screamed back.

"We all know you have two left feet! Besides, you didn't even get hurt. Jamie caught you!"

"If I say it was me, can we stop yelling?!" Jamie asked loudly.

"But you would never do that, so no," I said.

"But Ryan might," Ryan smirked, talking in third person.

"Ryan, how could you?!" I gasped.

He shrugged, "I felt it appropriate due to the fact that the sparkleness of your shirt distracted me."

"Sparkleness? Really?" Danielle laughed.

"Yes! It's a new word I just made up."

"Obviously!" I laughed along. We were walking to the park, which wasn't that far away from the place we decided to go eat at.

When we entered, Danielle and I looked at each other, and started running for the swings. Jamie and Ryan started running after us after a few seconds. By the time they got to us, we had already sat down on the last two open swings and were laughing.

"Jamie! Come push me!" Danielle yelled.

"What do I get out of this?" he asked, walking over behind her, starting to push her.

Danielle shrugged, "I won't embarrass you today?"

"I could never be embarrassed by you."

She smirked, "You remember that."

We stopped laughing and swinging the moment we heard a voice yell, "Jamie! Ryan!" We looked behind us and saw Sarah trotting up with a couple of her 'friends'. "I didn't know you guys were coming back," Sarah said, completely ignoring the fact that Danielle and I were sitting right there.

"Yeah, there was probably a point to that," I mumbled.

Sarah laughed bitterly and stepped toward Ryan and Jamie, "What are you guys doing later tonight?"

It was obvious the guys were getting uncomfortable as Danielle stood up, "Hey, whore. You mind backing off? I don't think their girlfriends would like you hanging out with them."

"Last time I checked, they didn't have girlfriends."

"Last time you checked, they hadn't met us," Danielle said, stepping closer to Sarah. Jamie grabbed her waist and pulled her back, causing her to crash into him.

"Oh," Sarah laughed loudly, "They're dating you two?"

"Yes, we are," Jamie replied confidently.

"I don't remember asking you, actually," Sarah said.

Danielle tried to break out of Jamie's grasp, but her kept her in his arms as she yelled, "You can be rude to me all you want, but he did absolutely nothing, so you can leave him the fuck alone!"

"Come on, Danielle. She's not even worth it," I said as I grabbed her hand and we all started to walk away.

We heard Sarah laugh bitterly again and she called, "I don't know what they see in you losers."

Ryan spoke for the first time since Sarah walked over to us, turning around quickly and yelling at her, "You wanna know what we see in them? Everything you're not! They may not have as much money or power as you do, but they are way more beautiful inside and out than some bitch who thinks it's okay to ruin other people's lives because of it!"

Jamie, Danielle, and I stared at Ryan, shocked he actually said that. He turned back around without looking at us and walked down the hill, sitting in the grass beside a tree. Sarah shrieked in anger and walked the other way with her friends.

"Um, we'll catch up with you guys later," I said, following Ryan. "Ry..." I said quietly, sitting beside him.

"I'm sorry, Mel," he whispered.

"Why are you sorry?"

"I should have said something earlier. I should have defended you guys. I should have-"

"Ryan!" I said loudly, grabbing his hand. He looked up at me and I continued, "Thank you."

"For what? Completely losing it?"

"The timing doesn't matter. All that matters is you said something. You said more than I did. I just stood there like an idiot. I'm the one that should be sorry, not you."

"You shouldn't be sorry, don't you ever say that."

"Ryan, I couldn't even stand up for myself. How does that make me look? Now she just knows she can say shit and I won't do anything," I sighed.

"This... Today... That doesn't define you. It shouldn't. She caught us all off guard."

"Danielle was on her though. She probably would have killed Sarah if we hadn't been there," I laughed quietly.

"Well, maybe she just needs anger management," Ryan chuckled, pushing on my shoulder.

"Did you really mean everything you said to Sarah?" I asked quietly after a few minutes of silence.

"When I yelled at her?"

"Yeah."

"Every word," Ryan said, kissing my forehead.

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why do you like me?"

"Because you're different," Ryan replied simply.

"But I'm not rich. I'm not as beautiful as any of those other girls that were at that show where we met..." I trailed off.

"You're beautiful to me, and that's all you need to be concerned about. So what if you don't have a lot of money? I've only known you for three months, but I know you'd much rather have friends who love you for who you are and not for what you have." When I didn't say anything, Ryan moved his finger under my chin and lifted my head to look at him, "I know it's only been three months, and I know you probably won't feel the same way yet, but I love you, Melanie. Nothing and no one will ever change that."

He kissed my forehead softly and I looked into his eyes and whispered, "I love you too, Ryan, and not the fan kind either. I mean it."

My heart started beating faster as Ryan's face moved closer to mine. I closed my eyes and took a breath before I felt his lips hit mine.

~

Title: "Queen of the Scene" by Hot Chelle Rae


	8. You Could be My Ever After

-Melanie-

"Guys, come on!" I heard Ryan yell from downstairs. Danielle and I looked at each other and laughed quietly as we finished packing our bags and walked down the staircase.

"Calm down, Ry. The plane leaves in an hour. We've got time," I smiled at him.

"Yeah, and I thought you were waiting in the car with everyone," Danielle mentioned.

"I know, but I had to get out because Nash won't stop complaining," he sighed. We walked out the door after making sure every window was closed, everything was locked, and we didn't accidentally leave anything on.

"Nashy, what's this I hear about complaining?" Danielle asked, climbing into the car and sitting between Jamie and Nash.

Nash rolled his eyes at the nickname Danielle gave him and said, "I wasn't complaining."

"Ry said you were."

Nash looked at Ryan and he just shrugged, "Sorry, man. It was getting annoying."

"You're an ass, Ryan," Nash laughed.

"But I look good, so it's okay," Ryan chuckled, backing out of our driveway and we were off to the airport.

"By the way, hey, Ian," I smiled, turning around and looking in the very back.

He laughed and waved, "Hey, Melanie."

"If Mel hadn't said anything, I would have forgotten you were here, Keaggy!" Danielle teased.

He lightly punched her shoulder and laughed again, "So much mean in such a small girl."

She laughed along, "I love you too, Ian."

The airport was about a 30 minute drive, so we sang along to whatever overplayed songs were on the radio. We started laughing when Tonight Tonight came on and pretty much just screamed the words completely out of tune.

~

When we finally took our seats on the plane, I sat between Ryan and Ian, and Danielle sat between Jamie and Nash again in the row across the aisle from us.

"Why do I always have to sit beside you?" Nash whined.

"Well, one, because you love me and two, someone's gotta keep an eye on you," Danielle smiled.

"I don't need anyone to keep an eye on me," he pouted.

"Of course you don't, Nashy," she laughed, laying her head on his shoulder and patting his knee.

The plane took off about 10 minutes later. "Ryan," I said.

"Yeah?"

"Did you bring my peanuts?"

He laughed and reached into his bag, pulling out a small can of salted peanuts, "Of course."

I excitedly grabbed it out of his hands and opened it quickly, "Oh my God, I love you!"

He chuckled again, "I love you too, crazy."

I smiled at him and ate, finishing about 15 minutes later. I yawned and leaned my head on Ryan's shoulder, instantly falling asleep.

~

I woke up a few hours later, right before the pilot announced that we were about to land. Everyone put on their seatbelts, Jamie having to put on Danielle's for her, not wanting to wake her up yet. I guess Ryan could tell I was nervous because he grabbed my hand and held it tightly.

"It's gonna be okay," he said soothingly in my ear, "I'm not going to let anything happen to you." I looked at him and squeezed his hand. The plane landed with no problems and I let out the breath I was holding. "See?" Ryan smiled at me, "Nothing to worry about." I lightly smiled back as we unbuckled our seatbelts and gathered all of our stuff. I looked across the aisle to see Jamie and Nash trying to wake Danielle up.

She lifted her head and rubbed her eyes, mumbling, "What the fuck do you want?"

"We have to get off the plane now," Jamie laughed.

"No, I'm tired."

"If you get off the plane now, I'll carry you until we get to your room," Nash said.

She rubbed her eyes again and stood up, "Fine." We got off the plane and Nash told Danielle to jump on his back. She laid her head on his shoulder and fell asleep again.

"This girl falls asleep almost as much as Nash does," Ian laughed as we went through baggage claim and all that fun stuff.

"It's a gift, really," I giggled, "You should have seen her when we went to Spain."

~

When we got to the hotel, we got our two room keys and headed to the elevator.

"Is there any chance she'll be waking up any time soon?" Nash asked.

"Probably not," I answered, "Just let her sleep now, she'll be up by 8 in the morning."

"So how are we doing this?" Ryan asked, holding up the keys when we reached the rooms.

"Girls in one, guys in the other?" I suggested.

"Oh, so you don't want to sleep in the same room as me? I get it," Ryan joked.

"I'm just saying I don't want to get you too excited," I winked at him.

"How about Jamie, Danielle, Melanie, and Ryan share, and Nash and I will take the other room?" Ian offered. Jamie, Ryan, and I looked at each other.

I shrugged, "I'm cool with that."

"Awesome, now can you open your door? I gotta get this girl off of my back. Literally!" Nash begged.

"I'm telling her you called her fat!" I said, opening the door and stepping out of the way to let Nash in

He laid Danielle down on one of the beds, "I did not call her fat! I've just been holding her for the past 10 minutes and she was getting heavy!"

"Okay, Nash. Whatever you say," I laughed. Ian opened the door to the room across the hall and he and Nash walked in. Ryan and Jamie followed in the room behind me and as I was about to close the door, I called to Nash and Ian, "Let's hope the jet lag doesn't hit too hard yet."

"Yeah, good luck with that," Ian laughed.

"See you guys in the morning!" Nash said, closing the door. I closed the door to our room and looked around.

"Pretty nice," I nodded.

I jumped on the bed that Danielle wasn't sleeping on and said, "Well, since it's fairly obvious who's sleeping where, I'm gonna go to bed."

"What if I wanted to sleep with my brother?" Ryan chuckled.

"Dude, that's just weird," Jamie laughed, climbing into bed next to Danielle.

"We did it all the time when we were little!"

"Yeah, man. That was when we were little and I had nightmares!"

Ryan just laughed and sat beside me. "Why are you pouting?" he asked.

"You don't wanna sleep in the same bed as me," I said, trying not to smile. "I might as well sleep on the floor!"

I moved my legs off the side of the bed and Ryan pulled me back, "Don't leave! I need you in my life!"

"And by life..."

"I mean bed," he said with a straight face.

I couldn't help but start laughing, "I suppose so. Can you let go now?"

"Why?"

"I have to pee."

"Ew," he said, wrinkling his nose and letting go.

"You asked!" I laughed, walking over to the bathroom door.

I got back to the bed and noticed Jamie was asleep, and Ryan was pretending. I smiled and climbed back onto my bed, turning off the lamp on the bedside table, and laying my head on Ryan's chest.

"I know you're not sleeping," I said softly.

"How could you tell?"

"You were smiling," I laughed quietly.

"Maybe I smile in my sleep," Ryan whispered.

"Uh-huh, okay, Ry," I chuckled quietly, "Goodnight."

"Goodnight," he replied, kissing the top of my head.

~

Title: "Ever After" by Marianas Trench


	9. You are the Proof that Love is Beautiful

-Ryan-

I woke up and looked at my clock. 5am? I only slept for 4 hours? Awesome.

I looked down and saw Melanie sleeping in my arms with her arm laying across my stomach, thinking I could really get used to waking up to this. I wrapped my arms tighter around her and laid my head on top of hers, closing my eyes and falling asleep again.

~

"Get up, get up, get up, get up, get up!" I heard someone repeat over and over, jumping on the bed.

I mumbled into the pillow, "I'm up, I'm up. What do you want?"

"Well, you're rude in the mornings," Melanie said.

I chuckled and rolled onto my back to look at her, "I'm sorry. What do you need, babe?"

"You know, calling me 'babe' doesn't make you any less rude," she said, sticking her tongue out at me.

"Then I guess this won't make me any nicer," I smirked, poking her stomach repeatedly.

"R-Ryan! S-S-Stop!" she yelled in between giggles.

"Not until you tell me why you woke me up before 11am!"

"I c-can't tell you i-if you're p-poking me!" She grabbed my hands and caught her breath before simply saying, "Soundcheck."

"Oh, right! When was that again?"

"An hour," she replied. I climbed out of bed, took a quick shower, and got dressed.

"Where is everyone?" I asked, finally noticing Jamie and Danielle weren't in the room.

"They're in the lobby, waiting for you."

"You make it sound like this is my fault," I joked.

"Well, you do lack time management skills," she teased. I laughed as I walked out of the room and into the hallway. I turned around when Melanie called my name. She closed the door to the room and grinned at me, holding my phone, "Forgetting anything?" She walked up to me, putting the phone in my hand and rolling her eyes, "What would you do without me?"

"Crash and burn?"

"Exactly," she smiled, grabbing my hand as we made our way to the elevator.

"Thank Jesus in Heaven! Look who finally decided to show up!" Nash said when our elevator door opened and he saw me and Melanie.

"Lucky for you, I have a wonderful secretary who keeps me on schedule," I said, nodding toward Melanie.

"Whoa, let's not get too ahead of ourselves. Secretaries get paid. Just think of me as your highly unofficial assistant tour manager," she smiled as we walked out to the car waiting for us.

"Well, what does that make me?" Danielle asked.

"We do need someone to run the merch table," Ian said.

"Do I get free stuff?" she asked excitedly.

"Don't you anyway?" Jamie laughed.

She punched his arm, "Be nice. I could ruin your life."

"But you wouldn't do it."

"I will if I have to," she smiled at him, kissing his cheek.

Soundcheck was soundcheck. We all went about doing whatever afterwards – walking around the city, checking out the sites, all that fun stuff – before we had to be back for the concert that night.

~

*Concert*

After we finished Beautiful Freaks, I smiled at the audience and said, "Now, normally, I would bring up one of you guys to sing this next song to." They cheered and I laughed, "However, I wouldn't feel right singing it to anyone but my lovely girlfriend." I smiled again as the crowd screamed. "Mel, would you please make your way to the stage?" I asked, looking to my right. I saw Danielle pushing a struggling Melanie, trying to get her onstage. I laughed as Danielle rolled her eyes, finally just deciding to grab Melanie's hand and drag her over to me. The crowd cheered again when the girls came out and I motioned toward Danielle, "And welcome, our wonderful merch girl!" Danielle laughed and bowed as the fans clapped, then ran backstage. I pulled Melanie closer to my side as she glared at me, "Will everyone please give a warm welcome to Miss Melanie Pandocchi." The crowd cheered again and I turned to Melanie, "How are you on this fine evening?"

I stuck my microphone up to her mouth and she stared at me before saying, as seriously as she could, "I fucking hate you."

"Oh, isn't she charming?" I asked, facing the crowd again. They laughed and started cheering when Danielle came back out, carrying a stool.

She set it in the middle of the stage and looked at me, "Do they do that every time someone walks out here?"

"Yeah, pretty much," I chuckled.

"I could get used to it," she smirked.

"Don't you have a merch table to run or something?" I laughed.

"Hey, bro," Jamie said from his seat at his drums, pointing one of his drumsticks at me, "Don't talk to my lady like that."

"What are you gonna do about it?" I asked, sticking my tongue out him as the audience laughed again.

"We'll settle this later," Jamie smiled, no longer able to keep a straight face.

"Brotherly love. Gotta love it," Danielle sighed as she turned around to walk offstage again.

"By the way, Danielle. I love your pants!" I called after her.

She turned back to face me and laughed, "Fuck you, Ryan."

"Love you too, Danielle," I smiled.

I took Melanie over to the stool Danielle brought out for her and pushed her shoulders down lightly, making her sit. She looked down as Nash, Ian, and Jamie started the song and I lifted her head up, making her look at me.

"You've got nothing to be nervous about. I'm right here," I said so only she could hear me. She relaxed slightly and she looked at me as I started singing.

It's like technicolor in black and white  
I felt like a boxer without a fight  
A night in Vegas without all the lights

Before you, I could only see as deep as the skin  
Before you, I never thought I could let anyone in  
Before you, I was waiting for my life to begin.

You are, you are the proof that love is beautiful  
You are, you are the truth, something unusual  
You are, you are my fire, you're burning like the sun  
You are, you are, you are, you are the only one

My walls are falling and my white flag is high  
I've surrendered to the feeling inside  
I look into your eyes and rewind

Before you, I could only see as deep as the skin  
Before you, I never thought I could let anyone in  
Before you, I was waiting for my life to begin

You are, you are the proof that love is beautiful  
You are, you are the truth, something unusual  
You are, you are my fire, you're burning like the sun  
You are, you are, you are, you are the only one

Hand on my heart, feel how my heart beats, heart beats  
Hand on my heart, feel how my heart beats, heart beats  
Hand on my heart, feel how my heart beats, heart beats  
Hand on my heart, feel how my heart beats, heart beats

Before you, I could only see as deep as the skin  
Before you, I never thought I could let anyone in  
Before you, I was waiting for my life to begin

You are, you are the proof that love is beautiful  
You are, you are the truth, something unusual  
You are, you are my fire, you're burning like the sun  
You are, you are, you are, you are the only one

You are, you are the proof that love is beautiful  
You are, you are the truth, something unusual  
You are, you are my fire, you're burning like the sun  
You are, you are, you are, you are the only one

I finished and looked at Melanie as the crowd cheered. She was looking down at her shoes again, but I could tell she was smiling. I took her hand and pulled her up into a hug. She wrapped her arms around my neck and and I wrapped my arms around her waist, hugging her tightly. She pulled away and started to walk offstage, but I pulled her back and kissed her. I could feel her smile as the crowd screamed again.

I leaned my forehead against hers and said, "I love you, Mel."

She grinned and whispered, "I love you, Ry." Melanie walked off and we finished our set.

"Thank you guys for coming out! Don't forget to raid the merch table!" I smirked.

I heard Danielle scream, "Ryan, you asshole!" I laughed and the guys and I ran backstage.

I ran to Melanie and wrapped my arms around her from behind, "Hello, beautiful."

She jumped and turned around smiling, "Don't you ever do that to me again, Ryan Follese!"

"Oh, so you want me to sing it to Danielle next time?"

"No, she doesn't!" we heard Danielle yell from across the room.

"Yes," Melanie whispered as she grinned.

"She's gonna hate us for it," I smiled.

Melanie shrugged, "She'll get over it."

I laughed loudly, causing Danielle to look up from what she was doing and give Melanie and I a glare. We smiled at her and she rolled her eyes, turning her attention back to what she was doing. Danielle grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and made her way to the merch table.

"I still hate you," she said as she passed me.

"I love you too!" I called after her.

"Screw you, Follese!" she yelled back, but I could tell she was smiling.

"Sorry, that's Mel's job!"

"Ryan!" Melanie laughed, hitting my arm.

"What? You know you want this," I winked at her. She pushed my arm again and started to walk in the direction Danielle did. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to help Danielle," she laughed. I chuckled and walked over to Jamie, Nash, and Ian to get ready to meet some fans.

~

Title/song used: "The Only One" by Hot Chelle Rae


	10. All I Want is You

-Melanie-

*Skipping to a few days before Christmas because I can*

"What do you want?" Danielle asked for the millionth time since we got home from the UK a few days ago.

"I told you, I don't want anything," I said, rolling my eyes.

"Lies!" she yelled, "I'm gonna get you something anyway, so you might as well tell me what you want."

I sighed, "I don't know. You know what I like."

She shrugged, "So what are we getting the guys?" I gave her a look and she exclaimed, "I know they said not to buy anything, but that doesn't mean we can't make them something!"

"What if we were really cheesy and we made them a scrapbook?" I smiled.

"Luckily, we're those couples that take pictures of each other all the time," Danielle laughed.

"Exactly! It's so perfectly cheesy!" I laughed along.

~

*Christmas Day*

Danielle and I woke up ridiculously early, as we do every Christmas morning. We made it a tradition that when we woke up, the first thing we would do is make cookies and watch Elf. This Christmas was obviously no exception.

While the cookies were baking, Danielle screamed, running into the living room, "Come here, Mel!" I walked in and watched her pull something out from under our little Christmas tree.

She handed it to me and I said, "I thought I told you not to get me anything!"

"I thought I told you I was getting you something anyway!" she mocked.

"What is it?"

"Don't ask, just open!" she said, clapping her hands together happily. I tore off the wrapping paper and started laughing. "I know how much you still fangirl over Hot Chelle Rae, so I only thought this was a fitting gift for you," she laughed along.

"I love it, Danielle," I smiled, "And since we're going along with this theme of Hot Chelle Rae, I got you something too," I giggled, running up to my room, coming back down a few seconds later.

"Oh, and who was the one complaining about something being gotten for them?" Danielle chuckled, sticking her tongue out at me.

I smiled, gladly returning the favor, "Just open it!" She ripped the wrapping paper off and almost fell onto the floor laughing.

"Holy shit, Mel! I love this!" she laughed, putting it on.

"I thought you would," I smiled.

We heard the timer on the oven go off, so I jogged into the kitchen, took the cookies out, put them all on a plate and ran into the living room as Danielle put in the movie.

~

About halfway through, there was a knock on our door.

"It's open!" Danielle screamed, not turning away from the TV.

"We could be murderers, you know," Ryan chuckled, stepping into the house.

"Shush!" Danielle said. I pointed at the TV, not looking away either. Ryan and Jamie sat on the couch and watched the rest of the movie with us.

~

When it was over, Danielle sighed, "I just love that movie so much."

"Yeah, we can tell," Ryan laughed.

"Danielle, why are you wearing a hoodie?" Jamie asked.

"Mel got it for me," she smiled, standing up, turning around, and holding her hair up.

"Oh my God," Ryan laughed, "That is amazing!"

"Isn't it though?" Danielle smiled, sitting back down beside me.

"It really is, but not as amazing as what she got me," I giggled, holding up my collage.

Jamie laughed, "That's beautiful."

"We may be dating half of the band, but we'll always be fans too," I smiled. Danielle poked my side and nodded toward behind the couch. "Oh! We got you guys something, too!" I said, pulling out the scrapbook we made Jamie and Ryan.

"We told you not to get us anything," Ryan said.

"You said not to buy anything for you. You never said we couldn't make you something," Danielle smiled. I handed it to them and they flipped through every page.

A few minutes later, they looked up seemingly in shock and Ryan said, "You guys made this?"

"Yup!" we said at the same time.

"This is insane," Jamie whispered.

"Good insane or bad insane?" Danielle asked. Jamie smiled, getting up and walking over to Danielle.

"Good insane," he whispered before kissing her. Ryan and Jamie sat down on their knees on the floor in front of where Danielle and I were sitting and smiled.

"We know we said we wouldn't get you girls anything..." Ryan said.

"Ry," I groaned, "Tell me you didn't."

"I can't, because we did," he smiled and shrugged. They pulled little presents out from their pockets and handed them to us, grinning.

I raised my eyebrows at them and Jamie said, "Open 'em!" Danielle and I looked at each other and sighed, tearing the wrapping paper off and opening the boxes.

To say we were shocked would be an understatement. I thought I was going to start crying and when I looked at Danielle, she was already in tears, hugging Jamie as tightly as she could. I looked up at Ryan, speechless. I pulled him closer to me and hugged him almost as tightly as Danielle was hugging Jamie. When we stopped hugging them, they took the necklaces out of their boxes and put them around our necks.

"Please tell me all these tears mean you like them," Jamie smiled.

"Of course!" Danielle nearly yelled, kissing him.

I kissed Ryan softly and whispered, "It's beautiful."

"Almost as beautiful as you," Ryan whispered back.

"So what's on the agenda for today?" Jamie asked.

"Well, every Christmas, we eat cookies, drink hot chocolate, and watch Elf all day," I said.

"Speaking of cookies, we need to go make more," Danielle said.

"We wouldn't have to make more so soon if you'd stop eating them so quickly," I joked.

"I wouldn't eat them so quickly if they weren't so good!" she replied, sticking her tongue out at me.

Ryan stood up, grabbing my hand and pulling me into the kitchen, "Less arguing, more cookies!" Jamie and Danielle quickly followed us into the kitchen. Danielle and I got out everything we needed to make the cookies and Ryan wrapped his arms around our shoulders, "Oh my God, you know how to make cookies too? Marry me!" We started laughing at Jamie's expression and Danielle walked over to him, wrapping her arms around his waist.

"Sorry, Ry. If I marry anyone, it's gonna be this kid. Or Nashy. Either one," she shrugged. Jamie and Danielle looked at each other for a few seconds before Jamie started laughing.

He kissed her forehead, "You're so weird."

"Thank you," she smiled before letting go of him and helping me with the cookies.

While the cookies were baking, we made the hot chocolate. "Are you making this from scratch too?" Ryan asked, hopefully.

I giggled at his expression and said, "Sorry, Ry. We're good, but we're not that good." His face fell slightly and I kissed his cheek, "Aw, you poor thing. You'll be just fine."

By the time our drinks were done, the cookies were done as well. We let everything cool for a few minutes before we put the cookies on a plate and headed back to the living room. We sat down – Ryan beside me and Jamie beside Danielle – and Danielle pressed play on the remote, and we watched Elf.

~

Title: "I Wish" by Hot Chelle Rae


	11. No Looking Back and No Regrets

-Melanie-

At the end of the third run of Elf, there was a knock on the door.

"Hey, guys!" I yelled happily when I opened the door, hugging Ian, Maggie, and Nash. Danielle looked over at the door as they walked in.

"Maggie!" she screamed, jumping off the couch and tackling Maggie with a hug.

"Danielle!" Maggie screamed, laughing and hugging her back.

"Well, don't I feel left out," Ian chuckled.

"Ian!" Danielle yelled, laughing and hugging Ian.

"Nash is unamused," Nash said in third person, crossing his arms.

Danielle let go of Ian and opened her arms to Nash, "Come here."

"They got tackled and I have to work for it?" Nash pouted.

"Do you want me to tackle you?" she asked seriously.

"Yes," he replied simply.

"Do I have to scream too?"

"It wouldn't hurt."

Danielle giggled and screamed, "Nashy!" She jumped on him, causing him to nearly lose his balance.

"Damn, Danielle. You almost killed me," Nash chuckled as she let go of him.

She ran over to Jamie and buried her head into his neck, fake crying, "Nashy called me fat!"

"Overstreet, I am gonna mess you up!" Jamie laughed, putting his arm around Danielle.

"First of all, I did not call her fat! Secondly, bring it on, pretty boy," Nash smirked.

Jamie let go of Danielle and looked at Ryan, "In case I don't come back, take care of her."

Ryan nodded, laying his arm across Danielle's shoulders, trying not to laugh, "Will do, bro."

Jamie walked over to Nash and they stared at each other for a while before they started slapping each other. (Like Zayn and Niall in The Adventurous Adventures of One Direction. If you haven't seen it, I don't like you. Just watch the first couple minutes to know what I'm talking about here.)

"Guys, can't you see your fighting is tearing this family apart?!" I yelled over-dramatically. Jamie and Nash froze and looked at me. They moved their hands to their sides and after a few more seconds, Jamie elbowed Nash's side and ran back over to Ryan and Danielle.

"I'm alive!" Jamie exclaimed once he got to them, throwing his hands in the air.

"My hero," Danielle sighed, wrapping her arms around his waist.

"Where's the food around here? I'm starving," Nash groaned.

"Usually, it's kept in the kitchen. Or in my room. But if you go in there, I'll end your life so fast, it won't have time to flash before your eyes," Danielle said, smiling innocently at Nash.

"You guys practically live here anyway. I know you know where the food is," I laughed.

Ian put his hand over his heart, "I can't believe you think we would just come into your home and eat all your food like wild animals!"

"But I would. Now let's eat!" Nash yelled, walking toward the kitchen. I rolled my eyes and laughed as everyone followed Nash. We walked in as Nash closed the fridge an turned around, looking at Danielle and I with sad eyes.

"What, Nash?" I asked, trying to hold in a laugh.

"You have no food," he pouted.

"We have food, it's just obviously not food you want," I giggled.

"Yeah, and in our defense, if we knew you all were coming over, we would have been better prepared with something other than cookies and hot chocolate," Danielle added.

Nash rushed over to Danielle and shook her shoulders, "When were you planning on telling me you had cookies?!"

"I just did," she stuck her tongue out at him.

"Jamie, your girlfriend's being mean to me!" Nash yelled, letting go of Danielle.

"Well, that's what you get for calling her fat," Jamie smirked.

"I didn't call her fat!"

"It was implied," Ryan chuckled.

"And if Nashy doesn't ever imply it again, Danielle might make him cookies," Danielle sang.

"I promise, I promise, I promise!" Nash said. Danielle stuck her pinky out toward him and he linked his own pinky with hers.

"Okay! I'm gonna go make cookies now," Danielle said, skipping over to the oven and turning it on.

Nash clapped and I laughed, "Nash, you are such a little kid sometimes."

"Sometimes?" Ian laughed.

"Yeah, more like all the time," Ryan chuckled.

Nash started to protest, but Danielle looked up from mixing the ingredients and interrupted him, "Nashy, why don't you come help me make these cookies before you slap someone, huh?"

He hung his head and shuffled over to her, mumbling, "Okay."

-Danielle-

Everyone else went back to the living room, Nash and I joining them a few minutes later.

"So is this all you guys do on Christmas?" Nash asked, sitting down on the floor against the couch.

"Yeah, pretty much," Melanie answered, plopping herself down on Ryan's lap.

"Why?" Jamie asked.

"Well, we've never really needed anything elaborate. It's always just been me and Danielle."

"You never have family over or anything?" Ian asked.

"Last year, things happened," I continued for Melanie, seeing her get uncomfortable, "Basically, our families don't like one another, so they told us it was either them or each other. I love my family, but I don't have the kind of relationship with them that I do with Mel. I couldn't just let that go because they can't get over whatever problem they have with her family. Honestly, I don't know why they hate each other and I really don't care to know either."

"The day my parents told me it was them or Danielle, I immediately chose her. They obviously didn't like my answer, so they kicked me out on the spot," Melanie continued, "I started walking to Danielle's house, and we met halfway, because she was walking to mine. We found out what happened, and knew we had to think of something fast. I mean, they left us with nothing. We just turned 18, so we figured it wouldn't be that difficult to find a job. That's how we met Eli. He'd just graduated college, and took over his family's diner. He didn't fully understand what we were going through, but he was nice enough to give us jobs. In exchange for the work we do at the diner, he lets us live here for free. He owns a few houses that he rents out to people, and this place isn't that far from the diner. I really don't know where we'd be without him." She laid her head on Ryan's shoulder, and I could tell she was holding back tears as Ryan held her closer to him.

"Like I said, this isn't really something we like to talk about, much less on Christmas. I guess we just figured it would be the best time to tell you since it was brought up, because you probably would have found out eventually anyway," I smiled softly.

Just then, the timer on the oven went off and Melanie jumped up in a rush to get out of the room, "I'll get those for you, Danielle!"

"We really are sorry we pretty much just ruined the mood," I said quietly, noticing everyone just sitting with shocked expressions on their faces. I stood up and walked into the kitchen. "Mel, I know you don't like to talk about it, but we would have had to have told them sooner or later," I said softly.

"I know, but I would have rather told them on a day that wasn't meant to be happy," Melanie sighed.

"Oh, well. It was brought up and now they know. We can't exactly go back in time and prevent anyone from asking why it's only us. They would have caught on," I shrugged.

"But what if they think of us differently?" Melanie whispered.

"Melanie, you know that this won't change anything and you know Ryan is still going to love you no matter what happens. Unless you ruin his shoes or something. Then he might go a little crazy," I smiled.

Melanie laughed, "I guess so." I took the plate Melanie was holding, putting the rest of the cookies on it for her.

"Now let's go back in there and spread some Christmas cheer!" I draped my arm across her shoulder as she smiled and we walked back into the living room. "Alright, people!" I exclaimed, "No more sadness! Only happy faces and food comas!" I sat the plate on the coffee table. I looked at Nash as I set the plate down, "There you go, cookie monster." He grinned widely and grabbed a few cookies off the plate.

"Nash! Sharing is caring," Jamie laughed, smacking Nash's hand.

"Boy, you better watch yourself. Your lover made these for me," Nash said.

Jamie looked at me and I threw my hands up, "I want no part of this."

"You made them! Tell him to share!" Jamie stuck out his bottom lip.

"Sorry, Jaim. It's out of my hands," I laughed. "What was that?!" I yelled, "Oh, sorry guys! Looks like Twitter's calling my name! Be back when the cookies are gone! Bye!"

I turned around to run out of the room, but Ryan grabbed my arm, "Hey, if I have to watch them fight to the death, so do you, missy!"

"Ryan!" I groaned, "Twitter needs me!"

"I'm sure Twitter needs me too, but you don't see me tweeting all the time."

"Yeah, and it's really annoying. You should do it more," I replied, sticking my tongue out at him.

He looked at Melanie and she simply shrugged, "It kinda is – and when you do tweet, it's really weird."

Ryan pretended to be sad, "Well, I didn't know people thought this."

"We're just speaking from a fan's point of view, Ry," I laughed, patting his back.

"My life will not be complete until I get a tweet from you!" Melanie sighed dramatically.

Ryan pulled out his phone and started typing away. He stopped typing, setting his phone on his leg and smiling innocently at Melanie. She raised her eyebrows at him, jumping slightly and reaching into her pocket, pulling out her phone.

She started laughing, "You're such a smartass, Follese."

"But you love me," he smiled at her.

"That I do," Melanie giggled, leaning over and kissing him.

~

Title: "Say (Half Past Nine)" by Hot Chelle Rae


	12. We Knew that We were Destined to Explode

-Danielle-

"He's still in bed," Ryan said, letting Melanie and I into the hotel room the band was sharing.

"And he doesn't know we're here, right?" Melanie asked.

"No idea," Ryan smiled, then looked at me, "You go wake him up, Mel and I will get started on breakfast."

I grinned evilly, "Don't mind if I do."

They left a couple days after Christmas for New York because they were playing Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve. Jamie thought Melanie and I were staying home and watching it TV, but we planned with Ryan, Nash, and Ian that we would go out to New York to spend Jamie's birthday and New Year's with them.

I tip-toed to Jamie's room and opened the door quietly. I looked at him for a minute before I took my phone out of my pocket, taking a picture of him, posting it on Twitter. I shoved my phone back into my pocket and laughed quietly as I strolled over to his bed, jumping on the bed beside him.

"Happy birthday, Jamie!" I cheered. He groaned and rolled onto his back, but never opened his eyes. "You wanna play that way, huh? Oh, I'll play that way, Jamie." I sat myself on his stomach and poked his face repeatedly.

He groaned again, "Stop."

"Jamie Christian Follese, I did not come all the way to New York for you to be moody. Now get your ass out of bed and be happy, birthday boy!" He slowly opened his eyes and looked at me, not saying a word. I playfully hit his cheek, "Stop staring at me like that. It's weird."

"Danielle? What are you doing here? I thought you were staying home," he said.

"Did you really expect your own girlfriend not to spend your birthday and New Year's with you and her favorite band?" I smiled. He grinned and moved his hands up, pulling my face down to his.

"You're amazing, you know that?" he whispered.

"So I've been told," I shrugged, closing the gap between us and kissing him. I climbed off of him and pulled on his hand, pulling him off the bed, "Breakfast time!"

"Oh my God, she actually got him up," Ian said from where he was already sitting at the table when Jamie and I walked out of the bedroom.

"Melanie!" Jamie said, shocked when he saw her.

She laughed, "Jamie!" She skipped over to him and hugged him, "Happy birthday, Jaim."

"Thanks, Mel," he smiled. "Is there anyone else here I should know about?" he asked, looking around the room.

I shook my head, "Not that I'm aware of."

Melanie shrugged, "Sorry, Jamie. It's just us."

"Alright, who knew?" Jamie asked. Ian, Nash, Ryan, Melanie, and I all raised our hands and Jamie jokingly said, "I hate all of you."

"But you just said I was amazing," I pouted.

"Except you, I could never hate you," Jamie said, kissing my cheek.

I laughed and pushed his shoulder, "Whatever."

I heard Melanie start singing quietly, "When the girl you like thinks you're gay."

"What, whatever!" I yelled, looking at her.

We laughed as Ryan continued, "You got a bunch of bills you can't pay."

"What, whatever," Ian smiled.

"When nothing's ever going your way," Nash sang.

"Whatever," Jamie chuckled.

"When you're shit out of luck and you're feeling stuck, just say so what, whatever," we all laughed.

"Where's Maggie?" Jamie asked when our laughing died down.

"She went to go visit one of her friends about an hour ago for coffee, but she should be back any time now," Ian said. Jamie simply nodded and went to the table. Just as he sat down, the door to the hotel room opened.

"I didn't miss it, did I?" Maggie asked, walking in.

"Nope. We wouldn't feel right doing it without you, so we waited," Melanie smiled.

"Miss what? What are we doing?" Jamie asked, confused.

"This," Melanie smiled again, carrying a plate of pancakes with a candle stuck in the middle of them.

"Just pretend there are 20 others in there, too," I giggled, resting my hands on Jamie's shoulders. Ryan walked over and lit the candle as Nash started singing Happy Birthday. We all joined in and Jamie blew out his candle, grinning widely.

~

After breakfast, Ryan, Nash, Ian, and Maggie gave Jamie his presents. When it got to Melanie and I, we tried to act sad.

"We did get you a present, but we ate it all on the way over here," Melanie smiled sheepishly, shrugging.

Jamie looked at us confused as I smiled, "But to make up for it, we just bought you more!" I pulled a box out from behind my back and set it in front of Jamie.

He looked at us again and Melanie said, "Stop staring and start opening!" We started cracking up when Jamie almost lost it because he was laughing so hard.

"This is seriously the most hilarious thing ever," Jamie laughed as he looked into the box filled with individually wrapped Reese's cups.

"Isn't it though?" Melanie laughed.

Jamie laughed, taking a picture, "Yeah, this is so going on Twitter."

@Jamiefollese: Look at what the lovely @riskybusinessmp and @MissDanielle137 got me for my birthday. :)

Melanie and I laughed as we read his tweet, and we each gave him a kiss on his cheek.

Ryan took a picture and smirked, "That's going on Twitter, too."

@RyanKFollese: Looks like the rest of you ladies have got some competition with @riskybusinessmp and @MissDanielle137. ;)

I laughed and hit Ryan's shoulder, "Ryan!"

"What?!" he chuckled.

"Are you trying to kill them?" Melanie giggled.

"All I'm saying is they have competition," he smiled.

Melanie grinned, "Aside from a tweeting spree, what are we doing today, Mr. 21?"

"Drinking!" Nash yelled suddenly.

"I think I'll pass," I smiled.

"Yeah, I'm gonna have to second that," Melanie laughed.

"Aw, why?" Nash pouted.

"You're forgetting we're only 19, Nashy," I replied.

"Oh, right. My bad," he smiled sheepishly.

"But you guys can go if you want. Danielle and I will just go tour the city," Melanie said.

"Yeah! We were gonna go shopping for outfits for New Year's tomorrow, but we can go today if you guys want to go celebrate Jamie's ability to drink," I smirked.

"Hey, I'll come with you," Maggie said, "I don't really feel like partying too much today. It'll be like a girls day!"

"Are you sure though?" Jamie asked, looking at Melanie and I.

"Yeah! Just don't drink too much. I'm not cleaning anything up," I smiled, pointing my finger at the guys, stopping when I got to Nash, "Especially you, Nashy."

He gasped, "I am highly offended by that statement."

"Oh, shut up, Nash. We all know how you like to drink," Melanie said, sticking her tongue out at him. He started to say something, but just nodded his head.

"Alright, so it's settled. Mel, Maggie, and I will go shopping and you guys will go celebrate the fact that you're now all legal drinkers!" I said, clapping my hands. Melanie gave Ryan a kiss, as did I with Jamie, and Maggie with Ian.

"Why am I always the one left out here?" Nash exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air.

"Find yourself a girl and you won't be," I laughed, giving him a kiss on the cheek before Melanie, Maggie, and I were out the door.

~

Title: "Time-Bomb" by All Time Low


	13. Don't Listen to Those Voices in Your Head

-Melanie-

"Oh, that looks cute!" Danielle squealed.

"Danielle. That's like, the 17th time you've said that. In the past 10 minutes, might I add," I said.

"Well, I'm sorry, but we just don't have this kinda stuff back at home!"

"Believe me, I know," I laughed, "Do your breathing."

"Her breathing?" Maggie asked.

"Whenever we're out shopping and she gets like this, she has to stop and take a moment to focus on what we went out to get," I giggled.

"You guys are insane," Maggie laughed.

"New Year's. New Year's," Danielle whispered to herself. "Okay, let's go!" she yelled, grabbing mine and Maggie's hands, running into a store.

~

Three hours and five stores later, we were done shopping and on our way back to the hotel.

"Hey!" we heard someone call from behind us. We turned around and saw four girls jogging toward us. One of them looked at us and asked, "You're dating those guys from Hot Chelle Rae, right?"

"Yeah..." Maggie said slowly.

"We love you guys!" a second girl smiled.

"We love you too," Danielle smiled, a little shocked.

"Would it be weird if we asked for a picture?" a third girl asked quietly.

"Of course not," Maggie smiled.

"I'll take it," the fourth girl said, obviously in a bad mood. It was a little weird, but I just shrugged it off. We took the picture and the first girl got her camera back from the fourth one.

"Thank you guys so much!" she smiled.

"No, thank you!" Danielle squeaked.

The group of girls turned around to walk away and I faintly heard the fourth one say, "Why would Ryan date her?"

I was a little shocked, to be honest. I guess Danielle and Maggie could tell because Danielle just grabbed my arm, spinning me around to go the direction we were originally going.

"Why don't we just go see if the guys are back yet?" Maggie asked in a rushed tone, laughing nervously.

"I'm sure she didn't mean it, babe," Danielle said quietly, still holding my arm.

When we got back to the hotel, the guys still weren't back.

"Um, how about a movie?" Danielle asked, noticing the blank expression still plastered on my face. Danielle grabbed some random movie and stuck it in the DVD player.

~

Halfway through, Nash came stumbling through the door, Ian and Jamie weren't walking straight, and Ryan walked in, sighing and throwing his keys on the little table beside the door.

"You don't look drunk. Why?" Danielle asked, looking at Ryan.

"Designated driver," Ryan said, smiling.

"I'm proud of you, Follese," she smiled back, getting up and walking to the fridge.

At this point, I found my hands to be more fascinating than the movie or the guys, so I was playing with my fingers. Ryan and Danielle started talking quietly, but I could still hear them.

"What's up with her?" Ryan asked.

"We were stopped by four girls on our way back the the hotel after shopping," Danielle whispered, "Three of them were happy and asked for a picture, but one of them looked pretty upset. When they were walking away, the fourth girl asked her friends why you would date Mel. She's still not very happy about it."

"Oh..." Ryan said.

"You should talk to her. She won't listen to me and Maggie."

"I will," Ryan said.

We could hear Nash coughing and Danielle screamed, "Nash Linden Miller Overstreet! I swear to God, if you do not make it to a toilet or trashcan, I will kill you!" She ran to the bathroom where the rest of the guys were.

"I should go help," Maggie said, getting up and rushing into the bathroom as well.

Ryan walked over to me and sat next to me, resting his hand on my knee, "Mel.."

"Why are you dating me?" I asked bluntly, looking up at him.

"Because I love you," he said quietly.

"Do you? Or do you just want me to think that for a while and then just dump me and never talk to me again?" I choked.

"Melanie, what is wrong with you? You've never doubted us before, and now you're letting one little comment get to you?" Ryan said, raising his voice slightly.

"Well, it's not like this is the first time it's happened," I mumbled, hoping he didn't hear me.

"What are you talking about?"

Shit. He heard me.

"I don't wanna talk about it," I said, playing with my fingers once again.

"Too bad," he said, grabbing my hand, "You're talking about it."

I sighed and took a deep breath, but didn't look at him, "When I was a sophomore, I started going out with this senior. He was a great guy, and he was really sweet, but near the end of the school year, he started acting weird around me. We wouldn't hang out anymore, and we rarely ever talked. Then a couple days before the last day of school, I found out he...he only dated me because he made a bet with his friends," I forced a smile, "I don't know. I... I guess I just thought he actually loved me. He made me believe that for 7 months. After that, I thought about ending it all. I would avoid everyone, even Danielle. I would never leave my bedroom. I would cut myself. Obviously nothing that left any scars, but every night, I would say to myself, 'This is it, Melanie. This is the night you're gonna do it.', but I never did – I wasn't brave enough. Then one day, I was watching random videos on YouTube, and I found you guys. I saw Last One Standing in my recommendations and I clicked it. I'll be honest, I only clicked it because I thought you guys were cute. But I listened to it, and I realized you guys were good, so I listened to more. And that did it for me. I knew Hot Chelle Rae was my new favorite band at that point. Your songs made me feel like I didn't need to hurt myself to be happy. They saved me." I finally looked back up at him, "You saved me, Ryan. And I can't thank you enough for that."

When he didn't say anything, I went to look back down, but he put his hand on my cheek, pulling my face to his and kissing me.

"I love you, Melanie. Never doubt that, okay?" he said, pressing his forehead against mine.

I breathed in deeply and nodded, letting a few tears fall, "I promise."

~

Title: "Listen to Your Heart" by The Maine


	14. I Must be Blind to Not Have Seen the Signs

-Melanie-

"Nash!" Ryan and I heard Danielle scream.

We looked at each other before running into the bathroom to find Danielle trying to keep Nash balanced enough for him not to get sick anywhere but the trashcan.

"If you get any of this shit on the floor, I will leave it there until you're sober enough to clean it up yourself, Overstreet!"

"Is this always what happens when you guys get drunk?" I asked.

"Pretty much," Ryan answered.

"Yeah, you're gonna have to not get drunk ever again because this isn't working for me," Danielle sighed, still holding Nash.

"Good luck with that, Danielle. Although, I don't think you'll need to convince Jamie of it. He looks like he's pretty much done," Ryan chuckled, looking at his brother who was leaning against the wall, holding his stomach.

"Shut up, man," Jamie mumbled.

"Oh my God," Danielle groaned, letting go of Nash, "Fuck it. I'm done. I'm taking a nap. I don't want to see this idiot until he's fully sober."

"A nap sounds good..." Jamie trailed off.

"Well, get your ass up and come on, cause I'm taking your bed," Danielle said, walking out of the room. Jamie stood up slowly and shuffled out of the bathroom after Danielle.

I chuckled lightly and turned to walk out of the room. I walked over to the fridge and as I opened the door, I felt Ryan wrap his arms around my waist from behind me.

"So why did you wait all this time to tell me we saved you?" he whispered in my ear.

I shrugged, "It just never came up."

"Seems like a pretty important reason to love me other than I'm your favorite member of the band," he laughed, tickling me lightly.

I smiled, turning around to face him and wrapping my arms around his neck, "How do you know you're my favorite member? Maybe I'm in love with Nash and I'm just using you to get to him."

"Because I know you'd never do that."

"You don't know me," I said, sticking my tongue out at him.

"I know you well enough to know that you're doubting whether I love you as much as I say I do or not," he said, suddenly getting serious.

"I'm not doubting it," I said clearly, but mumbled the next part, looking down, "I'm questioning it."

"I don't want you to question it either. You don't need to. If I wanted to be with anyone else, I wouldn't have asked you out," he said.

I squeaked when he picked me up and carried me into the bedroom he shared with Jamie. I smiled lightly as I looked at Jamie holding Danielle closely to him as she slept, but I could tell he was still awake. Ryan threw me onto his bed, climbing on and laying next to me.

"Now, you are going to go to sleep and forget about everything that's happened today. Just rest up for tomorrow," Ryan said.

"But I'm not tired," I pouted as I laid my head on his chest.

"What if I sang you to sleep?"

"Maybe," I trailed off.

"Falling stars don't crash through your window..." he started singing and I almost instantly fell asleep.

-Ryan-

I chuckled when I noticed Melanie fell asleep after the first line of the song, but I kept singing anyway.

When the song was over, I heard Jamie whisper, "What happened today?"

"What do you mean?" I whispered back.

"When we got back here, it didn't seem the same as when we left. Like the girls were mad or something."

"Oh, well, they were, but I don't really think it's my business to tell you the details. If Melanie wants you to know, she'll tell you." It was pretty dark in the room, but I could tell Jamie nodded.

"I can tell you really care about her, Ry," he said quietly.

I sighed, "I've just never felt this way about anyone before."

"I can tell. We all can. The way you look at Mel says it all for you."

"After today, she doesn't believe it though. I don't know how I can prove it to her," I mumbled.

Jamie shrugged, "You're a Follese. We always figure something out."

I chuckled and wrapped my arm tighter around Melanie, drifting off to sleep.

~

-Melanie-

I woke up in Ryan's arms, looking at the clock and noticing it was 4am. I carefully got out of bed, making sure not to wake Ryan up, and walked out of the room and into the kitchen. I poured myself a bowl of Lucky Charms and turned around just as Jamie was quietly walking out of the room.

"Oh, hey, Mel," he whispered.

"Hey, Jaim," I said, taking a seat on the couch. Jamie joined me a couple minutes later with a handful of Reese's cups. "It's adorable how much you love those things," I chuckled.

"It's adorable how much you love that cereal," he mocked.

"Touché," I smiled, shoving another spoonful of cereal into my mouth. "What's up?" I asked, noticing Jamie was being unusually quiet – even for 4 in the morning.

"What happened yesterday?" he asked quietly. "It's okay if you don't want to tell me," he said when I didn't respond after a few seconds, "It's none of my business. I shouldn't have asked."

"No, it's alright," I said. I told him everything I told Ryan, including what caused the whole scene.

"But you know he loves you more than anything," Jamie said after a few minutes of silence between us.

I shrugged, "I don't know. This is just the first time I've really been in love with a guy since that happened. I just... I just don't want to fall too fast again."

"I know how you feel, but I also know Ryan's willing to take your pace. He loves you too much to lose you, and I don't want to see either of you get hurt."

"Thanks, Jaim," I hugged him tightly before getting up and pouring myself another bowl of cereal. Jamie wasn't talking again, and I knew there was something else on his mind. This time, I sat on the couch to face him, leaning my back against the armrest, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," he said.

"Jamie, I know when people tap their foot like that, it's a nervous habit. Come on, talk to me. What's going on?"

He sighed and after a couple more minutes, replied, "I think I love Danielle, and I want to tell her, but I'm afraid she won't feel the same way."

"Seriously? She's been waiting to hear you say you love her since we were sophomores."

"No, Melanie. I don't mean like that... I mean, I think I'm in love with her," he said quietly.

"Ah, I get it. You feel like if you tell her, she won't feel the same, but she'll say she loves you just to make you happy and only mean it in the fan kind of way."

"Exactly," he replied, putting his head in his hands, "I just don't know what to do."

"I think you should take the chance and tell her," I said simply.

"But even if I did, how would I do it? This isn't something I can just bring up in a casual conversation with her. I can't just say, 'The weather looks lovely today. I'm in love with you. What do you want for lunch?'. I can't do that."

"Well, why not? She'd love it!"

He laughed, "Melanie, I'm serious."

"You really want my advice on this?" I asked.

"Well, yeah. All girls are hopeless romantics, right?"

I shrugged, "Some of us just show it more than others."

"Okay, so if you were going to tell someone you're in love with them, how would you do it?"

"Well," I started, "I think you should tell her tonight. Right before you kiss her at midnight. Just say, 'Danielle, I love you.' and take it from there."

"But what if it turns into one of those 'she tells me she loves me in the heat of the moment' kinds of things?" he asked.

"Jamie, stop worrying. I can tell she loves you just by the way she looks at you, she's just not brave enough to say it first!" I whispered loudly.

"Mel, if this works, I owe you big time," he said, giving me a hug.

"Just pay me in Lucky Charms and we'll be even," I smiled.

He laughed softly, "Deal."

~

Title: "Jaws On the Floor" by You Me At Six


	15. I Can't Deny These Feelings Any Longer

-Melanie-

Jamie and I didn't bother to try going back to sleep, so we just stayed up, eating Lucky Charms and Reese's until we'd eaten them all. Jamie was nice enough to share his Reese's when I ran out of cereal. We talked about completely random stuff, and even things that were more serious. That's what I love about Jamie. Aside from being like the protective older brother I've never had, he can go from being funny to being serious and back in a matter of seconds.

It was about 11am and we were in the middle of one of our funny conversations when Ian and Nash's bedroom door opened, and Nash was dragging his feet across the floor.

"Oh, hey, guys," he said quietly.

"How's your hangover?" I asked, trying not to laugh.

He just mumbled incoherently, walking over to the fridge and taking out a carton of orange juice. He didn't take out a cup before he unscrewed the cap on the carton and I could tell he wasn't planning on getting one either.

"Nash," I said, making him stop and look over at me.

"Melanie," he said, copying my tone.

"Danielle's already pissed at you for almost throwing up everywhere yesterday. Are you really willing to risk the possibility that she may forgive you today?"

"I'm sure it wasn't that bad," he said, rolling his eyes.

"Dude, she called you Nash," Jamie chuckled.

"Oh..." he stuck out his bottom lip and sighed, putting the orange juice back in the fridge, "I guess not then."

I laughed, "I didn't say you couldn't drink it. Just get a cup from the cabinet."

"But I don't wanna."

"What if I got it for you?"

"Would you?" he asked, seemingly shocked.

"Yeah, come sit," I said, patting the spot next to me and standing up, walking past him and to the fridge. I got a cup from the cabinet and poured some orange juice into it, also taking out a couple aspirin and carrying them back over to the couch. "Here's your orange juice and a some aspirin to help the hangover," I said, handing them to Nash and sitting back down between him and Jamie.

"Thanks, Mel," Nash said, swallowing the pills and rubbing his head.

"You're welcome, Nash. Just don't make it a habit. I seriously thought Danielle was gonna kill you yesterday," I chuckled.

"You thought Danielle was gonna do what yesterday?" Danielle mumbled, rubbing her eyes as she walked out of Jamie and Ryan's room.

"Kill Nash," I replied.

"Oh, right," she said, walking toward the couch. Nash jumped up and pulled her into a hug.

She tensed up and I smiled, "He's sober."

"Oh," she said simply before relaxing and hugging him back.

"I'm sorry you had to deal with that," Nash said when he pulled away, looking at her.

"Don't say sorry, cause I know you're gonna do it again. I didn't have to deal with you anyway," she mumbled.

"Then why did you?"

"I told you. Someone's gotta take care of you," she rolled her eyes, but smiled. He stuck his bottom lip out again and she giggled, wrapping her arms around his waist and laying her head on his chest, "Stop. You know I love you, Nashy." He laughed and hugged her tightly before she let go, trotting over to Jamie and plopping down on his lap.

"Is there any reason for sitting on me?" he asked, laughing.

"You're comfortable and I like to sit on people," she replied. Nash sat back down beside me and Danielle laid down on top of us, laying her head on the armrest.

"Why do your feet have to be in my lap?" Nash whined.

"Shh! Don't say that word around Jamie! He might throw a fit!" she whispered.

Jamie looked down at her and laughed, "I'm right here."

She moved her hand in front of her eyes, "Where? I don't see you."

"That didn't work the first time you did it-" he chuckled, taking her hand in his and moving it away from her face, "-and it's not gonna work now." She frowned and he leaned down to kiss her.

"Ew, get a room," Ryan said, walking out of his room.

"Okay," Jamie said, picking Danielle up and carrying her toward his room.

"Jamie!" she squeaked.

"What?! He told us to get a room!"

"Help! I'm being kidnapped! Melanie! I love you! Don't forget me!"

"What about me?" Nash frowned.

"I love you too, Nashy."

"Hey!" Ryan yelled.

"You too, Ry, and Ian and Maggie and anyone else I'm forgetting!"

"So, anyway," I said, laughing, "What are we doing today?"

"Well, the band has soundcheck at 10 tonight, but I don't think we have anything planned," Ryan said.

"Maybe we could just hang out until this headache goes away," Nash said.

"It's not our fault you drink too much, Overstreet," Ian laughed as he walked out of his room.

"Maggie still sleeping?" I asked.

"Nah, she's just in the bathroom. Doing whatever you girls do in there," he replied.

~

-Danielle-

*Skipping to that night, because the day was really boring*

"Melanie, I've told you five million times. You look absolutely gorgeous," I said as I rolled my eyes.

"First of all, no, I don't. Secondly, that doesn't change how nervous I am," she rushed.

"Melanie! All we have to do is go there, look pretty, watch the band perform, and kiss Ryan and Jamie at midnight. That's it! You're never nervous! What is wrong with you?"

"I don't know. This is pretty public. We haven't really gone out too much with the guys. What if people say things again?" she mumbled the last sentence.

I sighed, "If anyone says anything, I'll kick their ass."

"You can't kick anyone's ass in that dress," she smirked.

I pointed my finger at her as I slipped on my coat and smiled, "Don't doubt me." We walked out of the room we were getting dressed in and the band was all ready to go.

"Why are you wearing your coats?" Ryan whined.

"Yeah! We wanna see your dresses!" Nash added.

"Not yet," I smirked.

"Yup, they're a surprise," Melanie smiled.

"Please?" Jamie begged.

"Nope," Melanie and I said together.

Ian just laughed, pushing Ryan, Nash, and Jamie out the door, "Come on, guys. We've got soundcheck. Besides, you know they're not gonna show you until they're ready anyway."

"And this is why we love you, Ian," I laughed and we all walked out the door.

"My pleasure," he chuckled, "And don't worry. If your dresses are anything like what we can already see, you're going to look stunning."

"Stop hitting on us, Keaggy. I might tell Maggie on you," Melanie teased.

"Alright, alright," he sighed dramatically, laughing.

~

We were listening to the guys soundcheck when Melanie suddenly said, "How do you feel about Jamie?"

"What do you mean 'how do I feel about Jamie'?" I asked.

"Do you, you know, love him?"

"Well, yeah. Of course I do."

"No, I mean like, love him," she said.

"Oh... Um... Yeah... But he probably doesn't feel the same way," I shrugged, looking down and playing with my bracelets.

"Why don't you tell him?" she asked.

"I want to, but what if I do and he doesn't feel the same way? At least not yet. It's only been five months. I shouldn't love someone this much, this fast," I trailed off. She nodded, but didn't say anything. "Why are you asking anyway?"

"I know your history with guys, and I can tell by the way you look at Jamie that you're in love with him. You've never looked at a guy the way you look at him," she said, nodding her head toward Jamie as he was drumming.

"How long was it before you and Ryan told each other you loved each other?" I asked.

"Three months," she answered simply.

"So you don't think it's weird that I feel this way so early?"

"Nope," she said, "If you feel it, you feel it. You shouldn't have to keep it in."

"Thanks, Mel," I said, laying my head on her shoulder.

"Anytime," she smiled, wrapping her arm around me, giving me a hug.

~

About one and a half hours later, the guys had gotten off stage after their performance and you could tell they were still pumped about it.

"That was insane!" Ryan yelled. We were in a room overlooking the crowd, and there was only 20 minutes until the ball dropped.

I nudged Melanie's side and she said, "We're gonna go to the bathroom real quick." She grabbed my hand and pulled me into the bathroom.

"There's only 20 minutes left and I'm getting hot," I sighed, taking off my coat.

"Remind me why we decided to wait so long for this," Melanie sighed, taking off her coat as well.

"Because we're idiots?" I offered.

"That could very well be it," she smiled.

"It has to be. Now let's go back out, because I'm pretty sure it's just as hot in here as it was out there," I laughed.

"Holy shit," Ryan said, staring at Melanie and I as we walked back into the room.

"Why don't you take a picture?! It'll last longer!" I said sarcastically.

"Alright!" Ryan, Jamie, Nash, and Ian said at the same time, taking out their phones, "Smile!" I rolled my eyes quickly, but threw my arm around Melanie's shoulders, smiling anyway.

They all took their pictures and Melanie immediately said, "Those are going on Twitter, aren't they?"

"Yup," Jamie smiled.

"And Tumblr," Ian said.

"And Facebook!" Ryan added.

"And Instagram!" Nash said happily.

"I hate you all," Melanie tried to say seriously. Ryan walked up to her, wrapping his arms around her waist.

"You still look beautiful, even when you hate us," he said before kissing her.

I put my hand over my heart and sighed dramatically, "So adorable."

"Don't think you're getting out of this either, missy," Jamie chuckled, walking over to me. He wrapped his arms around me and whispered, "But really though, you're absolutely gorgeous," kissing me.

"Those don't even look comfortable though," Nash said.

"Oh, believe me, Nashy. They're not," I laughed.

"Then why would you buy them?" Ian laughed as well.

"Because they're pretty," Melanie said, poking at the sequins on her dress.

"Girls," Nash sighed, "I'll never understand them."

"That's probably why you don't have a girlfriend," Ryan smirked.

"Hey, man," Nash said, pointing a finger at Ryan, "I don't have a girlfriend because I don't want to be held down."

"Nashy," I said, walking out of Jamie's arms and over to Nash, "Be nice."

"He started it," Nash pouted.

"I don't care who started it, I'm finishing it."

I gave him a hug and he sighed, "Fine," hugging me back.

"30 seconds, everyone!" someone in the room shouted.

We walked over to the window to watch the ball drop and everyone started counting down. Jamie turned to me, and I knew it was now or never.

"I have to tell you something," we both said at the same time.

"No, you first." We did it again.

"Same time?" I suggested.

"Same time," he repeated.

We let everyone else count down from 5 and when they hit 1, we said at the exact same time, "I love you." We looked at each other, shocked, but smiling widely.

I squealed and wrapped my arms around his neck, nearly jumping on him, and kissed him. I could feel him smile, making me smile, too.

"Happy New Year," he smiled when we pulled away. I grinned, but didn't say anything, just pulled him back in for another kiss.

~

Title: "Kiss Me Again" by We Are The In Crowd


	16. She Knows She's Hot, but That's All She's Got

-Melanie-

"Told you so," I sang after Danielle told me what happened between her and Jamie while we were in the restroom. She laughed and pushed my shoulder after drying off her hands. "I swear, Danielle. You're the only person I know who can manage to get chocolate everywhere but in her mouth and on her clothes," I giggled.

"Oh, shut up, Melanie. You do it too," she smiled.

"That was one time, and you scared me!"

She stuck her tongue out at me and we walked out of the bathroom and started walking down the small hallway back to the room everyone else was in. We stopped before we reached the doorway because we heard people talking.

"I thought you meant we were just taking a break, baby," we heard a girl say from inside the room.

Ryan's voice came next, "How the hell did you get 'We're just on a break' from 'I never want to see your cheating ass again'?"

"You weren't thinking straight, you were drunk. Just please, give us one more chance, Ry."

"Don't call me that, Morgan. You know just as well as I do that I wasn't drunk. I told you, I'm done with you."

"Morgan!" Danielle and I whispered to each other, wide-eyed.

I could tell Danielle suddenly got mad because she quickly rushed into the room. I followed behind her as she faked a smile.

"Morgan!" she squeaked.

"Um, who are you?" Morgan asked bitterly.

"Danielle. From high school, remember?"

"Uh, I don't think so."

"No, I know you remember. I think the words you used were 'jealous', 'loser', 'bitch'.. Oh, and then there's my personal favorite: 'slut'."

"Oh, yeah... Of course I remember you. I can see nothing's changed either," Morgan said plainly.

"Wait," Jamie started, but Danielle put her hand up to stop him.

"No. It's okay, Jaim. I've got this," she said, never taking her eyes off of Morgan. "Now, I'm gonna ask this question once and I expect an answer," Danielle addressed Morgan again, "What the fuck do you think you're doing here?"

"I think I'm here to get my boyfriend back," Morgan stated.

"Really? Funny, because I'm pretty sure he hasn't been your boyfriend for what, six and a half months now?"

"And how would you know that?"

"Honey, the Beautiful Freaks find out everything."

"So you're fans?" Morgan said, looking over Danielle's shoulder at me.

"That too," Danielle shrugged.

"Then how are you even in here?" By this time, Ryan had walked over to me and had his arms around me.

"Jamie and I are dating them, genius," Ryan said, rolling his eyes.

Morgan laughed and looked at me, then at Ryan, "Seriously?"

"Did you plan on your life ending earlier than you had expected it to?!" Danielle nearly yelled. Jamie already had his hands close to her waist, ready to grab her if she got too angry.

Morgan ignored Danielle and said, "That's what you go to after me? Are you kidding me?"

"Yeah. Yeah, you did," Danielle said, taking a step toward Morgan. Jamie grabbed her waist and held her to him. She turned her head quickly to look at him, "Damn it, Jamie! She deserves to be hit!"

"I know she does, babe, but that doesn't mean you should do it."

"Okay, them I can see," Morgan said, nodding toward Danielle and Jamie, "They bicker like an old married couple. But you and her? Really?"

"Look, Morgan. I'm sorry that you're having a hard time coping with the fact that I'm actually happy now, but you don't need to take it out on my girlfriend," Ryan said.

Morgan smirked before walking out the room, "This isn't over, Ryan. I always win."

"God, she reminds me of Sarah, except without the blonde extensions and 20 pounds of makeup caked onto the face her daddy bought her," Danielle sighed when Jamie finally let go of her.

"I told you it would happen again," I said, looking at Danielle before running out of the room.

-Ryan-

"Melanie! Wait!" Danielle called, starting to follow her.

"No, Morgan's my ex. I'll go talk to her," I said, walking out of the room.

"Good luck, Ry!" she yelled after me. "You're gonna need it," she mumbled afterward. I looked in almost every room, but I couldn't find Melanie. I sighed and just decided to go outside for some air.

When I stepped out onto the sidewalk, I saw Melanie sitting on a bench right next to the door. I could tell she was shivering, but she was trying to hide it. I took off my jacket and walked over to her.

"Here, Mel," I said softly, trying to put my jacket over her shoulders.

"I don't need it, Ryan," she said bitterly, pushing it away.

"Melanie, it is the middle of winter in New York. You are either taking the jacket, or going back inside."

"I don't want it. Just leave me alone," she said quietly.

"Why? So you can freeze to death? I'm not letting that happen, Mel. Please just take my jacket or I'm gonna have to carry you back inside."

"Why can't you just let me freeze to death? I'm sure everyone would be happier anyway," she said, not looking at me.

I looked at her shocked, but put my jacket back on before picking her up and walking back inside. She only sighed, and I was surprised she didn't put up a fight, but I wasn't complaining about it.

"Danielle, Jamie, Nash, Ian, Maggie, and I," I said as I put her down on a couch in the lobby, sitting next to her.

"What?" she asked, looking up at me, confused.

"We are why I can't let you freeze to death. We love you way more than you want to let yourself believe, Melanie. So a couple girls got jealous? You've got six people plus our fans that love you."

"Your fans don't love me," she muttered, looking back down.

"I know about how excited they get when you tweet them back. We get tweets all the time about how much they love you and Danielle both. Who cares if a few girls get jealous? It's only because they would probably kill to be you. But I don't want them, Mel – I want you. They just need to deal with it."

Melanie was silent for a couple minutes, and when she did talk, I heard her voice crack, "I love you, Ryan." I lifted her head up to look at me and I saw she was crying.

I took her face in my hands, wiped away her tears, and smiled, "I love you too, Melanie. More than anything."

"Ry, I'm cold," Melanie said as we walked back to the room everyone was in.

"Well, I offered you my jacket at least 5 times so far and you said no every time, so I don't know what to tell you," I laughed.

"I don't want your jacket," she shrugged.

"Then how do you expect to get warm?"

"I want you to hold me," she replied simply.

I smiled and wrapped my arms around her as we walked, "I can do that."

"It's hard to walk like this," she giggled.

"There's just no pleasing you, is there?" I chuckled, loosening my grip on her.

She grabbed my wrists and pulled my arms tighter around her, "I just said it was hard to walk, I didn't say I wanted you to let go of me."

I smiled and we walked back into the room. Everyone turned to look at us and Danielle shuffled – or however girls run in heels – over to Melanie, throwing her arms around her neck.

"Hello to you too," Melanie smiled.

"I just want you to know-" Danielle paused and pointed at Jamie. "-that had he not held me back, I would have beat that bitch up."

Melanie laughed at Jamie's shocked expression and smiled at Danielle, "I know, but this band has a reputation to uphold – and that's getting drunk and making awesome music. Well, not at the same time, but you know what I mean. They can't have their merch girl running around beating people."

"However, if someone tries to kill us or something, we'll know who to call, Danielle," I laughed.

Danielle thought for a moment and then smiled before skipping back over to Jamie, "Okay!"

~

Title: "Downtown Girl" by Hot Chelle Rae


	17. Three in the Air if You Just Don't Care

-Melanie-

"Everyone got everything?" I asked, walking out of the room Danielle and I had shared with Ryan and Jamie.

"I don't wanna go home!" Danielle whined, plopping down on the couch and crossing her arms.

"You knew this wasn't going to last forever," I laughed.

"I know, but home sucks," she pouted.

I laughed and yelled, "Jamie! I need some help out here!"

Jamie walked in from his room and leaned against the door frame, taking one look at Danielle before smiling, "Don't make me do it."

"What do you think you're gonna do about it, pretty boy?" she smirked. Jamie sprinted over to her before she had time to get up and pinned her down on the couch, tickling her. "Jamie!" she screamed.

"I warned you," he laughed.

"Are you going to get up now?" Jamie asked after a couple more minutes.

"I can't! You're sitting on me," Danielle giggled.

"Well, I don't see how that's really my problem," he smirked.

"You'll be my cause of death because you're crushing me!"

"Are you calling me fat?" Jamie gasped.

"Yes, I am! Now get off of me!" she laughed, pushing him off of her.

~

A couple hours and lots of peanuts later, we were finally home. I unlocked the front door, stepped inside, and breathed in.

"Home, sweet home," I sighed.

"Yeah, sweet would be the word I'd use to describe it," Danielle said, rolling her eyes.

I laughed at her disappointment, "Come on, it's not that bad. Besides, we'll get to see Eli tomorrow and tell him all about our vacation!"

"Oh, yes! I get to wake up at 7 in the morning after a long weekend to go to work. Score! I'm gonna take a nap."

I shook my head and smiled at her, "You go do that."

"I was planning on it anyway!" she called back, already halfway to her room.

~

About an hour later, there was a knock at the door. I got up from the couch and trotted over, opening the door.

"Hey, babe," Ryan smiled.

"What are you guys doing here?" I asked as I moved out of the way, letting Ryan, Jamie, Nash, and Ian inside.

"We have a surprise for you and Danielle," Ian sang.

"Well, Danielle's sleeping right now and, to be honest, I'm a little afraid of what might happen if I try to wake her up," I laughed.

"I'll go do it," Nash said, walking down the hallway.

"Good luck coming back in one piece!" I called after him as the rest of us sat on the couch.

~

"He's been in there for a while," Jamie said.

"Should we be worried?"

"Jaim, it's only been 5 minutes," I smiled at him.

"Yeah, but maybe he died," Ryan added.

"He didn't die," Nash chuckled, walking back into the living room carrying Danielle.

"What the fuck do you guys want this time?!" Danielle whined as Nash sat her down with Jamie before taking his own seat right next to her.

Jamie just laughed as she laid her head on his shoulder, "No, you can't go back to sleep! We've got a surprise for you and Mel!"

"Okay, get on with it!" I said excitedly.

"Well," Ryan started, "You both know we have a few shows coming up in California next week..."

"And since we were still touring on Danielle's birthday and we were flying back from the UK on yours..." Ian said.

"We wanted to take you with us as a sort of belated birthday present," Nash finished with a smile.

"Seriously?" I asked.

"Seriously," Jamie repeated.

"Well, yeah! Of course we'd love to go!" I said happily.

"I'll go under one condition," Danielle yawned.

"And what might that be?" Ryan asked.

"If anyone wakes me up ever again, I give myself permission to slap them senseless." The guys looked at each other and shrugged.

"Alright, we'll agree to that," Ryan smiled.

"Awesome," Danielle smiled, "Now can I go back to sleep?"

"You're gonna go anyway. Does it really matter what we say?" Jamie laughed.

"Not really, no," she said, getting up and walking back to her room calling back, "See you losers whenever."

"I really like her room," Nash smirked when Danielle was out of hearing range.

"Oh, dear God," I started laughing, "As soon as she realizes you were in there, she's gonna flip out."

"What?" Ian asked, obviously confused.

"Oh, right. You're now the only one who doesn't know," I chuckled.

"Doesn't know what?" he asked again. I was about to answer when Danielle appeared back in the living room and stood there for a few seconds, opening and closing her mouth trying to find words.

"Exactly how many of you have been in my room?" she finally asked. Nash tried not to laugh as he raised his hand and Jamie slowly put his in the air with a nervous look on his face.

"Does it count if we know?" Ryan asked, trying not to smile.

"Seriously, what are you talking about?" Ian asked, looking at everyone.

"Ian, you are my new best friend, and the rest of you better sleep with one eye open," Danielle said, turning around and walking back down the hallway.

"Well, she reacted better than I thought she would," I said when she left the room.

Ian sighed, "I'm never gonna find out, am I?"

"Sorry, Ian. I can't ruin that new best friend status she gave you," I laughed.

"Wait, what just happened?" Jamie asked.

"Well, Jaim. I think Ian just kicked you out of the number one spot," I teased.

"It's really sad that you have to fight for your own girlfriend's love, bro," Ryan laughed.

Jamie looked at Ian, "You're going down, Keaggy."

"I didn't do anything though!" Ian exclaimed, throw his hands into the air, "Can't you just tell me so she hates us all equally?"

"Nope," I smiled, "Just bug her about it. She'll give in by the 10th time you ask." Ian simply shrugged and we just spent the next few hours talking about nothing.

~

Title: "Whatever" by Hot Chelle Rae


	18. We're Dancing on the Edge of the Hollywood Sign

-Melanie-

The next morning, after our shift ended, Danielle and I went to go talk to Eli.

"Good to see you girls back," he smiled.

"I'd like to say it's good to be back, but then I'd be lying," Danielle joked.

"But it is great seeing you again," I said, to which Danielle happily nodded in agreement. "So, about why we needed to talk to you," I said.

"Let me guess," Eli smiled, "You guys need the next couple weeks off because the boys want to take you to California as your belated birthday presents?"

"How did you-"

"They came in yesterday and talked to me about it," he laughed.

"They must really be excited about this then," Danielle said.

"Why would they be though? We only turned 19. It really wasn't that big of a deal," I wondered out loud.

Eli grinned and shrugged, "I don't know." "

You know something," Danielle laughed.

"You're right, I do – but I'm under strict orders not to speak a word of it."

"Can you at least tell us whether or not we're going to like it?" I asked.

"Oh, you're going to die of happiness and then come back to life to enjoy the awesomeness," he smirked.

"I'm cool with that," Danielle clapped.

"Alright, now go home and rest. You worked hard today," he smiled at us.

"Thanks for everything, Eli," I said, hugging him.

"Yeah, I feel like we don't say that enough. You seriously don't understand how much you've helped us these past couple years," Danielle added, hugging him as well.

"Both of you are like my sisters. Of course I'd do anything for you," he smiled.

~

*One week later*

"Welcome to beautiful Los Angeles, California!" Ryan exclaimed as soon as we stepped off of the plane.

"Wait," Danielle said, "If we're all already here, does this mean I can't sing Come Back to California?"

"That depends. Do you have some secret lover back home you've been cheating on me with?" Jamie joked, hitting her arm lightly.

"No, I'm pretty sure Nashy came with us," she winked at Jamie.

Jamie looked at Nash, who just shrugged and said, "We were trying to find the right time to tell you, but it'd be too awkward."

Jamie laughed, unable to keep a serious face, "I am friends with such weird people."

"But you love us anyway," Danielle smiled.

"I know," he said, wrapping his arm around her waist and kissing her cheek, "But that doesn't make you any less weird." She simply shrugged as we all chuckled, finding our bags and heading to our hotel.

"So, what is there to do around here?" I asked, taking a pair of shorts and a t-shirt out of my bag to change into seeing as the weather was a lot warmer.

"Well, it's L.A.. There's a lot to do," Ian laughed.

"We don't have a show for another three days, so today we could just walk around for a while, then come back and rest up for tomorrow," Ryan said.

"Why? What's tomorrow?" Danielle asked.

"Your birthday present," he smiled at us.

"What is it?" I asked excitedly.

"Now, if we tell you, it won't be a surprise," Jamie chuckled.

"You're all lame," Danielle said, sticking out her bottom lip.

Jamie ruffled her hair, "You'll be okay."

She shook her head to get his hand off of it and pointed a finger at him, "You better watch yourself, boy. I'll hurt you."

"Lies!" he yelled.

"Alright, alright," I laughed, "Danielle and I are going to get changed into something that won't give us heat strokes. We'll be out whenever," I chuckled as I pushed the guys out of the room.

Five minutes later, we walked out of the room we were sharing with Jamie and Ryan, obviously, and the guys were already set to leave.

"Wow," I said, looking at them, "You're ready."

"We're excited!" Ryan said, grabbing my hand and pulling me toward the door, "Now let's go!"

"Oh, can we go see the Hollywood sign?" Danielle yelled.

"You just want to sing Tonight Tonight," Nash laughed.

"I know, but you can't just visit L.A. and not see the Hollywood sign!"

"Alright," Ryan smiled, "Calm down. We'll go see it."

Danielle clapped excitedly and Jamie chuckled, "You are like a little kid in a candy store."

"Please, I'd be acting like this in a candy store at the age I am now," she replied, sticking her tongue out at him.

~

About half an hour later, we could finally see the sign and Danielle said, "Guys..."

"Yes, Danielle?" I asked, trying not to laugh, knowing what she was about to do.

With the straightest face she could make herself give, she said, "It's been a really, really messed up week."

"Has it?" Ian smiled.

"Seven days of torture, seven days of bitter."

"What happened?" Nash asked.

"And my boyfriend went and cheated on me."

"I did not!" Jamie yelled, acting offended.

"He's a California dime, but it's time for me to quit him."

"Way to go, Jamie," Ryan said sarcastically. We all laughed and joined in with Danielle singing the the chorus.

She continued, "I woke up with a strange tattoo."

"Really?" Ian chuckled.

"I'm not sure how I got it, not a dollar in my pocket."

"What is it?" Nash smiled.

"And it kinda looks just like you," she pointed at me, smiling.

"Me?" I asked.

She nodded, "Mixed with Zach Galifinakis."

"I don't know if I should be offended by that or not."

We went on with the rest of the song and when it was over, Danielle yelled happily, "That was so much more awesome than I thought it would be! You have no idea how long I've been wanting to do that!"

"I'm proud you kept a straight face through the verses," I laughed.

"You don't realize how much I practiced," she said, pushing my shoulder.

~

A few hours later, we were back at the hotel messing around and being crazy.

"Oh, hey. When did 11:30 happen?" Nash suddenly said.

"We better get to bed!" Ryan exclaimed, "Big day tomorrow!"

"Why can't you just give is a hint about what we're doing?" Danielle pouted.

"Because it's a surprise," Ian laughed.

"What we can tell you is that you're gonna love it," Jamie smiled.

"Now off to bed!" Ryan yelled, picking me up and throwing me over his shoulder.

"Ryan!" I yelled, laughing.

"Yes, Melanie?" I could hear his smirk.

"Put me down," I giggled.

"Okay," he said as I landed on our bed.

"Never pick me up like that again," I laughed as he laid down next to me, laying my head on his chest.

~

Ten or so minutes later, I still couldn't sleep.

I sighed, then heard Ryan whisper, "Can't sleep, huh?"

"No, why are you still awake?" I asked, looking up at him.

"Because I could tell you hadn't fallen asleep yet and I wanted to wait until after you did."

"You don't have to do that."

"Yeah, I do. If anything happens, I want to be able to know you're safe."

"Nothing's gonna happen. Go to sleep," I said quietly.

"You don't know that, Mel. If something did happen and I could have stopped it, I wouldn't forgive myself. I love you too much," he replied, kissing my forehead.

"I love you too, Ry," I whispered, laying my head back down.

"Ryan," I said after a few more minutes.

"Melanie," he said in the same tone.

"If I said I had an idea of what might help me sleep, would you go with it?"

"Anything for you," he said.

"Will you sing for me?"

I felt him nod, "Of course." He started singing Forever Unstoppable and I closed my eyes. The last line I heard was "You can take my heart if yours won't beat" before I drifted off to sleep.

~

Title/song used: "Tonight Tonight" by Hot Chelle Rae


	19. They Say that Love is Forever, Your Forever is All that I Need

-Melanie-

I woke up the next morning to someone shaking me. "What?" I groaned, looking at the clock before covering my face with the pillow.

"We've got a big day, get up," Ryan laughed.

"Ryan, it is 9 in the morning. Can't this 'big day' start after 11?" I mumbled into the pillow.

I could hear his smile, "No, it really can't." I groaned again, but more dramatically, dragging myself off of the bed. I looked over and saw Jamie trying to wake Danielle up.

"Oh, dear God," I chuckled, "This isn't gonna end well."

"Wait," Jamie said, "This is waking her up, isn't it?"

I nodded slowly, "Sorry, Jaim."

"I'm pretty much screwed, aren't I?"

"Yes," Danielle said, sitting up, "And as soon as I fully wake up, I'm gonna hurt you."

"But in my defense, this is your birthday present."

"But in my defense, the condition in which I said I would come here is what you agreed to," she said, sticking her tongue out at him.

"Well, you're rude in the mornings," Jamie chuckled.

She smiled sweetly at him, "I know. Now get out. We have to get dressed."

~

After we were all ready, we walked out to the car we rented. Ryan sat in the drivers seat and I sat in the passenger seat like we always do. Ian climbed in the back and Danielle jumped in after him, sitting next to him as he gave her a weird look.

"Why are you sitting back there?" Jamie asked once he and Nash sat down.

"Yeah, you always sit between us," Nash pouted.

"Because Ian's never woken me up," she replied, pulling her seat belt across her body and buckling it. Ryan and I looked at each other, trying not to laugh as he pulled out of the hotel parking lot.

~

After about half an hour of goofing off, Ryan suddenly said, "Hey, Ian. I think we're almost there." I looked at him suspiciously, as did Danielle.

"Oh, right!" Ian said, reaching into his pocket.

"I'm not putting that on," Danielle said when we realized they were blindfolds.

"Sorry, babe," Ian replied, "You have to."

"Why?" she whined.

"Because we don't want you to see your surprise until we're ready," Ryan smiled.

I shrugged and had Jamie help put my blindfold on while it took Ian a bit longer to convince Danielle. She eventually gave in and sat there with her arms crossed and her bottom lip out as Ian simply chuckled while tying her blindfold.

A few more minutes went by and Danielle asked, "When do we get to take these stupid things off?"

"In a couple minutes, Danielle. I promise," Ryan laughed. I felt the car stop and Ryan put it in park. "Alright, now don't take them off. We'll do that for you," Ryan said. I heard his car door open, then close, followed by two more doors opening. I unbuckled my seat belt as my car door opened.

Ryan grabbed my hand and helped me out, shutting the door behind me. Jamie hopped out, and he and Ian helped Danielle out, making sure she didn't hit her head. Once all the doors closed, Ryan told me to jump on his back, as did Jamie with Danielle. We did, and they started walking.

"Am I the only one that finds it weird that two guys are carrying girls with blindfolds on and two other guys are walking with them?" I asked. The guys just laughed, not answering the question.

We suddenly stopped moving and Ryan and Jamie told us to hop off. We jumped off their backs and they stood us next to each other, then stood beside us.

"We stopped moving, but I still can't see," Danielle said.

"Well, we know you said you've been waiting 19 years for this, Danielle," Jamie said.

I heard Ryan's smile as he said, "Happy belated birthday, beautifuls."

They untied our blindfolds and I smiled widely as Danielle screamed, instantly covering her mouth. She tried to talk, but all that would come out was the first letter of the word followed by a squeak.

"I think what she's trying to say is, 'I can't believe you remembered I said I've been waiting 19 years to go to Disneyland!'," I laughed. She stopped, sighed, and looked at me, nodding.

"We're gonna wait for you guys over...somewhere not right here," Ian said.

As Nash and Ian started walking away, I hugged Ryan and whispered, "You seriously just made her life with this."

"We were hoping to," he chuckled.

Danielle smashed her lips against Jamie's and when she pulled away, he said, a little out of breath, "What was that for?"

"For remembering I said I wanted to come here," she smiled. We started walking when Danielle suddenly hit the side of Jamie's arm as hard as she could before yelling, "And that was for waking me up this morning!" She ran toward Ian and Nash and Jamie started chasing her. "Nashy! Jamie's gonna hurt me!" she screamed, running in front of Nash, turning around and wrapping her arms around his waist.

He laughed and wrapped his arms around her, looking back at Jamie, "I will hurt you if you hurt her!"

"But she hit me!" he exclaimed, rubbing the spot on his arm where Danielle hit him.

"Well, that's because it was part of the agreement and I'm pretty sure she warned you about that before we left the hotel," Nash smirked.

~

10 minutes later, we were walking over the teacups and Danielle was still holding onto Nash.

"For the 50 millionth time, I'm not going to hurt you," Jamie begged.

Danielle simply shook her head and Nash laughed, "People might get the wrong idea, babe. And you of all people should know how crazy our fans can get."

"That's offensive!" she gasped, "I would not know how crazy they get!"

"Danielle, we see what you tweet us," Nash chuckled.

"Oh... You guys actually read those..."

"Yeah, we do," Jamie smiled.

Danielle looked at Jamie and said, "Well, you're just jealous cause I tweet all the sexual stuff to Nashy!"

"Maybe you do, but he's not the one you're dating, now is he?" he smirked.

She paused for a moment before letting go of Nash and walking over to Jamie, grabbing his hand, "Well played, Follese."

"Thank you, Myers," he grinned.

"Oh, okay. I get it. I'm good enough for the tweets, but not for anything else," Nash pouted.

Danielle laughed loudly before grabbing Nash's hand as well, "I've got enough love to go around people! Now, would you rather walk or skip to the teacups?"

"Well, since we're all holding hands, I feel it's necessary to skip," Jamie said.

"Beautiful!" Danielle exclaimed and her, Jamie, and Nash started skipping toward the line for the teacups.

I stood in the middle of Ryan and Ian and chuckled, holding my hands out to them, "Shall we, gentlemen?" They laughed and grabbed my hands.

"We shall, Miss," Ian smiled and we skipped toward the rest of the group.

~

"I really like your outfit, Danielle," Ian chuckled after we got out of our teacup.

"Thank you," she smiled, "I'm channeling my inner Ryan today."

"Your inner Ryan?" Ryan laughed.

"Would you rather I say I'm channeling my inner Louis Tomlinson?"

"No, Ryan's good."

"That's what I thought," she said sweetly.

"Is Ryan the only one you channel?" Nash laughed.

"Nope! I channel my inner Jamie when I eat Reese's and drink Coke, my inner Nashy when I wear purple and talk about something sexual, and my inner Ian when I'm having an awesome hair day or I'm just being perfect," she chuckled.

"Why does he get to be the perfect one?" Ryan pouted.

"Have you met him?" Danielle asked seriously.

"I feel loved," Ian smiled.

"You should," I chuckled.

~

Another hour or so later, we were walking around aimlessly after riding almost everything that didn't have super long lines. We weren't really paying attention, but we started to when we heard someone talking about the band. Ryan smirked and looked at the guys, and they all gave each other the same weird look. Danielle and I looked at each other, then the guys, raising our eyebrows.

They walked over to the girl and people whom I'm assuming were her mom, dad, and little sister just went between staring at him and each other and poked her shoulder at the same time. The girl gave her family a weird look before she turned around and nearly choked on what she was drinking. She tried to talk when she calmed down, but nothing was coming out of her mouth.

Danielle ran over screaming, "Translation!", sitting beside her. She and the girl, who we learned was named Riley and was 17, looked at each other and Danielle kept nodding before saying, "Okay!" a few short seconds later. "This is roughly what she's saying," Danielle started before yelling, "Oh my God, you're Hot Chelle freaking Rae! What? Ahhhhh!" She looked at Riley again as she gave her a look. "Oh, and she was wondering if they could get your autographs and some pictures," she smiled. Riley let out a sigh as she looked at the guys, nodding slowly.

Ryan laughed, "Of course you can!"

"Would it be weird if we asked you to be in it with us?" Riley asked, finally able to speak as she and her sister, Emma, stood up, looking at Danielle.

"Not at all," Danielle smiled.

"I'll take the picture for you if you want," I said quietly.

She smiled, "No, we want you to be in it too."

"Oh, uh, sure," I said, a little shocked.

Riley handed her camera to her dad as we all stood together for a group picture. The guys even took pictures separately with the two girls, who had smiles on their faces the whole time.

"I feel like I'm asking too much here," Riley said to Danielle as they stood to take their picture together. Danielle threw her arms around Riley before the picture was taken, hugging her.

"You're not! I feel like a celebrity right now," Danielle laughed. She and Emma got their picture taken as well, then Riley and I.

Emma, who couldn't have been older than 4, came up to me and wrapped her arms around my leg. I looked down at her and laughed lightly as she let go and reached up. I shrugged and picked her up, holding her on my side.

She looked at me and asked, just as she did with Danielle, "Who are you dating?"

I smiled, knowing Riley must talk about the band and Danielle and I a lot to her, and pointed at Ryan, "I'm with him."

She looked at Ryan and stuck her hand out, giving him a thumbs up. Everyone laughed and she looked back at me, "You're really pretty." I couldn't stop the grin from spreading across my face, not that I wanted to.

"Thank you," I said, "You are so adorable." We got our picture taken and said our goodbyes to Riley, Emma, and their parents and walked away.

"I told you you're pretty," Ryan whispered in my ear as we walked away.

I shrugged and Danielle bumped into my arm, "Kids don't just say you're pretty and not mean it. They're not like guys."

"Dude," Jamie said, staring at her.

"Look, it is a proven fact that 87% of guys will only tell a girl she's pretty if he wants in her pants."

"And we're part of that other 13%, right?"

Danielle giggled and kissed Jamie's cheek, grabbing his hand, "Of course you are."

"Seriously, Mel. You're beautiful," Ryan said.

"Okay," I mumbled. Everyone sighed and I said, "Can we just not talk about this and go eat? I'm starving."

"I could really go for some fries right now," Danielle sighed.

Nash chuckled, "You could always go for some fries."

"Yeah and no one ever buys me any!" she yelled.

"Well, we'll buy you some now!" Ian yelled back, laughing.

"Thank you!" she yelled again.

~

After we ate, we went on more rides and just messed around. On our way back from the park, Danielle took her usual seat between Jamie and Nash, giving Ian more room to rest. As soon as Ryan pulled onto the highway, Danielle laid her head on Nash's shoulder and passed out.

"She really does sleep just as much as I do, doesn't she?" Nash said quietly, looking at Danielle.

"She really does," Jamie laughed.

~

When we got back to the hotel, Nash carefully got out, letting Jamie pick up his girlfriend and walk back into the building.

We all got onto the elevator and when it beeped, I looked at the girl in Jamie's arms and chuckled, "Aw, she isn't awake to sing for us."

"I'm sure we'll use the elevator again tomorrow," Ryan laughed quietly.

We got back to the room and Ian unlocked the door. We walked inside and immediately went to our own bedrooms, completely exhausted from the day we had.

"Hey, could one of you come get these covers for me?" Jamie whispered. I trotted over and pulled the covers down.

"Thank you," he whispered again, laying Danielle down on their bed and taking her shoes off. He laid down next to her, pulling the covers back up and kissing her forehead. "Goodnight, guys," he said quietly, turning off the lamp that was on the table beside him. I yawned and climbed into my own bed next to Ryan.

"Night, Ry," I whispered, kissing his cheek and turning off the lamp next to my side of the bed.

Ryan leaned down and kissed my lips softly before whispering, "Night, Mel." I laid my head on his chest and almost instantly fell asleep.

~

Title: "If I'm James Dean, You're Audrey Hepburn" by Sleeping With Sirens


	20. Should I Fight for Our Love or Disarm?

-Melanie-

The next morning, the guys had soundcheck fairly early. Luckily, Danielle was already awake so no one was going to get hit – at least not for waking her up. We walked to the elevator and when it beeped, we all looked at Danielle.

She shook her head, "Nope. Not doing it."

"Danielle," I smiled.

"Damn it," she mumbled before singing lightly, "She's sophisticated, or so she seems.." We laughed and she mumbled again, crossing her arms, "I hate you all." Jamie chuckled, wrapping his arms around her waist and laying his head on her shoulder. "I still hate you," she said. He lifted his head and looked at her with puppy dog eyes. She sighed and leaned her head on his chest, "I hate when you do that to me." He grinned and pulled her closer to him, kissing the top of her head as the elevator doors opened. We walked out to the car and climbed in.

When we got to the venue, we could see a few girls already waiting at the door, so the guys decided to go meet them while Danielle and I followed behind them quietly. We all laughed together, talking about completely random things before the guys had to go inside. The band made sure to get pictures taken with the girls, and they even asked for ones with Danielle and I as well. The guys went and did their soundcheck while Danielle and I just lounged around. I logged onto Twitter and went into my mentions.

"Holy shit," I chuckled.

"What?" Danielle asked, leaning closer to me.

"I have 82 new mentions."

"You're like a celebrity," she joked, nudging my shoulder.

I laughed, "Hardly."

I went through and found some names I recognized and some I didn't. I decided to answer the names I wasn't familiar with first, even if I only sent them a smiley face.

I saw someone tweeted a picture with mine, Ryan, Jamie, Ian, Nash, Danielle's usernames all tagged along with the caption: Best day ever! :D

I opened it and smiled, "Hey, guess who it is," putting my phone in front of Danielle.

"Riley and Emma!" she exclaimed happily.

I chuckled again as I sent the reply: Glad we could make it the best day ever :)

~

*Later that night*

While Danielle was grabbing a drink after the show, I walked off looking for the guys, but what I found certainly wasn't what I was expecting to see. I ran back to Danielle and grabbed her arm as she picked up a Coke, dragging her back to where I was.

"A simple 'Hey, Danielle. You should come check this out!' would have been okay too, you know," she said, trying to keep up with me.

"I really don't think we have time for that," I choked.

"What's wrong? Why do you sound like you're crying?"

I stopped her where I was and she instantly dropped the bottle of Coke she was holding. She gasped lightly, fighting to hold back tears.

I don't know why my first instinct was to go get Danielle when I saw our boyfriends kissing other girls, but as soon as I realized who those girls were, I guess I was just more concerned about her at that point. Yeah, it hurt like hell to see Ryan kissing Morgan, but I knew that, even though we've been through everything together, Danielle would never believe me if I just told her Jamie was kissing Sarah and she didn't see it herself.

Jamie and Ryan immediately looked at us with shocked expressions on their faces when they heard Danielle gasp. I expected Danielle to get mad and start hitting Sarah or Morgan or someone, but all she did was turn around and run away. That's when I knew she was really hurt. I looked at Ryan, shaking my head as the tears started coming and just turned, following Danielle.

The hotel was about a 10 minute walk from the venue, but we knew we weren't riding in the same car as Ryan and Jamie, so we walked back. We got to the room and sat on the couch, not really knowing what to expect when the guys got back.

-Nash-

I was walking back inside the venue when Melanie and Danielle ran by me.

"Whoa, hey! Where are you going?!" I yelled after them. They didn't stop, so I just shrugged and kept walking. The first person I found was Ian. "Hey, do you know why Mel and Danielle just ran off?" I asked him.

"Maybe they wanted to go out for a run. Maybe All Time Low is in town. Maybe they just found their boyfriends making out with Sarah and Morgan. I don't know," Ian trailed off, looking pissed.

"What do you mean?"

"Go see for yourself," he mumbled, pointing to another room. I raised my eyebrows at him before walking over to the room. My eyes went wide as I looked at Ryan, Jamie, Morgan, and Sarah all in the same room.

"Oh my God," I said, shocked.

"Nash! This isn't what it looks like!" Ryan yelled.

"Don't bother, man. I don't want to hear it," I said plainly, turning around and walking back out to where Ian was. "Do you know where the girls went?" I asked.

"The only place I could think of would be back at the hotel. I'm pretty sure they know how to get there from here," he replied.

I nodded, "Come on. We should go check on them."

"But what about-"

"They can find a way back. I don't really give a fuck about them at the moment," I said angrily. Ian nodded understandingly and we drove back to our hotel.

We basically ran back to our room and when we opened the door, we saw Melanie and Danielle sitting on the couch in complete silence.

"You know it's not good to sit in silence when something like this happens," I said quietly, kneeling down in front of Danielle.

She looked up at me and whispered, "I know," starting to cry.

I picked her up and sat back down where she was, putting her on my lap and just hugging her. I looked over at Ian, who was already sitting next to Melanie, holding her protectively.

~

"You guys should try to get some sleep," I said after about 15 minutes.

"I can't sleep in the same room as them," Melanie said quietly.

"You can sleep in our room. We'll find somewhere else," Ian replied instantly.

"We can't just kick you out of your room like that," Danielle spoke softly.

"It's okay, really. We would hope you two would do the same for us," I said. I saw them both smile slightly.

"Now, there are those smiles we know and love," Ian smiled. They sniffled, but smiled again.

"Seriously, it's alright," I said, "We don't understand how you feel from personal experience, but we can tell you just need your space from them."

"Thank you, Nashy," Danielle said, wrapping her arms around my neck.

I smiled, picking her up and carrying her to my room, laying her on my bed, "You're welcome." I heard Melanie giggle and soon after, I watched as Ian carried her into the room.

"I said you didn't have to carry me, Ian," she laughed lightly as Ian placed her on his own bed.

"I told you I was going to carry you anyway, Melanie," he replied in the same tone. I rolled my eyes and laughed as he walked back out of the room.

I was about to walk out when I heard Danielle say, "Nashy."

I turned around, "Yes?"

"Will you come sing to me?" she asked quietly, sniffling.

I smiled softly, walking back over to her, "What would you like me to sing?"

She looked over at Melanie, who was already sleeping, and whispered, "Um, will you sing World We'll Never Find?"

"Of course," I whispered back.

She moved over slightly and I climbed onto the bed, leaning partially against the headboard. She laid her head on my chest and I sighed as I heard her sniffle again. I started singing to her and I could tell she fell asleep somewhere during the chorus, but I sang the whole song for her anyway.

I thought about moving, but I didn't want to wake her up – partly because I didn't want to get hit but mostly because I knew she had a rough night and if she was awake, she would just think about it more and more. So I just got as comfortable as I could before kissing the top of her head and turning off the lamp on the nightstand, finally drifting off to sleep myself.

~

Title: "That Should Be Me" by Justin Bieber


	21. I Wanna Fall so in Love with You and No One Else

-Nash-

"Why the fuck were you sleeping with my girlfriend?!" Jamie yelled when I walked out of my room the next morning, shoving my shoulder. They finally came back to the hotel at 11 last night, about an hour after the girls went to sleep.

I rolled my eyes and calmly said, "Honestly, I don't think you should even be calling her your girlfriend right now."

"No! I will call her my girlfriend because that's what she is!"

"Look, man. You didn't see her last night. Both of them were a complete wreck and she just needed comfort. If I believed she wanted to see you, you would be in there right now." I looked over at Ryan, who was just sitting on the couch with his head in his hands, "But I know neither one of them even want to look at either of you. You just need to accept the fact that you both fucked up and, to be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if they wanted to go home because of it," I said bluntly.

"You know, Nash. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were in love with her," Jamie said accusingly.

I looked at him in shock, "Jamie, she is my best friend. I love her, but I'm not in love with her. You should hear how much the girl talks about you when you're not around! You are her whole world, but you fucked everything up!"

"I told you," Ryan muttered, "It wasn't what it looked like."

"Really, Ryan? Because it looked to me like you were making out with the two people Danielle and Melanie hate more than anyone," Ian said angrily.

"We were ambushed! Do you really think we wanted them to kiss us?!" Ryan nearly yelled.

"Melanie had time to run back to the front of the venue, grab Danielle, and run back for Danielle to see what was happening! What the hell are we supposed to think?!" I yelled back.

"I get that you're only trying to protect them, but we've been like brothers for 6 years, Nash! You've gotta trust me with this! I would never intentionally hurt Melanie. You know that," Ryan said quietly.

"I want to believe you, Ryan – really, I do – but you didn't see the looks on their faces or how much they were crying," I sighed.

-Danielle-

I woke up the next morning to sounds of people yelling. I didn't know what they were yelling about, but I knew it was coming from inside our hotel room. I stood up and looked around, realizing I wasn't in my own room. I looked over at Melanie sleeping and suddenly remembered everything that happened last night.

I heard the yelling calm down as I opened the bedroom door. I immediately regretted it as Jamie turned and stared at me. I knew it was too late to go back into the room since they had all seen me, so I just looked away from Jamie as quickly as I could make myself and walked to the fridge as everyone's eyes were on me.

I couldn't take it anymore. I felt the tears coming as I just stared aimlessly into the fridge. I closed the door and turned around quickly.

"Stop staring at me!" I shouted. I sprinted back toward Ian and Nash's room and Jamie tried to grab my arm. I pulled back and looked at him through watery eyes, "Don't touch me." I wiped my cheek as I retreated back into the bedroom, slamming the door and leaning against it, sliding onto the floor.

Melanie jumped at hearing the door slam, "What was that?"

"Oh, sorry... I didn't mean to wake you up," I said quietly, trying to hide the fact that I'd been crying. It was no use. She immediately knew something was up.

"What's wrong?" she asked, standing up and rushing over to me, sitting back down on the floor in front of me.

"Jamie and Ryan are back," I whispered, wiping my face again.

"Oh..." was all Melanie said as she looked down, but I could hear the hurt in her voice.

We jumped when we heard a knock on the door. Melanie and I didn't say anything, but we heard the person on the other side sigh.

"Babe, it's just me, I promise," we heard Nash say. Melanie and I stood up quickly and I pulled the door open. As soon as I did, Nash came in, pulling us both into a hug.

"Um, hi," Melanie said.

"Nashy, you're kinda choking me," I managed to get out.

"Sorry," he chuckled nervously and he let go of us.

"So, where's... Um... Yeah..." Melanie trailed off.

"They went out for a bit," he said.

"Oh..." I replied. "I'm going back to sleep," I said plainly, stepping back toward Nash's bed.

"Nope," he said, grabbing my arm and pulling me back to him, "We're going out today."

"Why? I've had enough excitement for one lifetime," I sighed.

"Too bad. Ian and I are not letting you two sit around and be mopey. Go change and be out in 10 minutes, or I'm going in after you," he said, pushing Melanie and I into our own room. I sighed and looked at Melanie, who simply shrugged, grabbing some clothes out of her suitcase.

~

"Alright, assholes. We're ready. Where are we going?" I asked as Melanie and I walked out of the room less than 10 minutes later.

Nash shook his head and smiled, "The only way you're going to forget about this is if you cheer up and just enjoy yourself."

"I would rather walk through an alley in New York City at midnight," I muttered.

"Yeah, I'm sure you would," Ian chuckled lightly as we walked out of the room and into the elevator. It beeped, and Ian, Nash, and Melanie looked at me.

I rolled my eyes, "Look at me all you want. I have absolutely no interest in being cheerful right now." They sighed, but didn't push it any further.

We went to the arcade and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't forget about Jamie. I saw Melanie laughing with Ian and Nash like nothing was bothering her, and I had to admit I was a little jealous. She could always push something to the back of her mind whenever she wanted to and not think about it. All I wanted to do was have fun, but I couldn't. I kept replaying last night over and over again in my head.

I was suddenly snapped out of my thoughts when Melanie pushed my shoulder, "Stop thinking about Jamie and start having some fun!"

"This isn't easy for me, Mel. I'm not you, okay? I can't just forget about things like that," I sighed.

"And you're not going to if you don't at least try to have a good time!" she exclaimed.

"Seriously, Danielle," Ian said as he and Nash walked over to me, "This isn't good for you."

"How about we go back to the room and order a pizza?" Nash suggested.

"We can watch Lifetime movies and make fun of them," Melanie exclaimed, "That always cheers you up!"

I sighed, letting a small smile appear, "Alright, but Nashy has to carry me back."

"Deal!" he yelled happily.

~

We turned on the TV after we ordered the pizza and I have to say, I was getting a little too into this movie. I don't know what it was called, but it was about some chick who had this twin she never knew about and they finally discovered each other like, an hour into the movie, and they traded places and basically lived each other's lives until they got caught. All-in-all, it was just really stupid and I'm pretty sure they ripped off The Parent Trap.

"Hey, I'm gonna go wait for the pizza guy in the lobby," Nash suddenly said.

"Yeah, I'll go with you," Ian announced, standing up.

"Why do two people need to wait for one pizza?" Melanie asked as they opened the door.

"It might be heavy, you never know. We'll be back!" Nash said quickly as he shut the door.

"Weird," I mumbled, turning my attention back to the movie.

"You can say that again," Melanie said.

"Weird," I repeated.

She laughed and shoved my shoulder, "Smart-ass."

I smiled at her, then jumped when I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. I pulled it out and opened the new text from Nash.

Meet us on the roof!

"What...?" I wondered out loud.

"What's up?" Melanie asked.

"Nashy wants us to meet him and Ian on the roof."

"I thought we were eating here," she groaned.

"Oh, well. We should go. It'll be like a party on the rooftop, top of the world," I sang, hitting her arm.

"And there's the old Danielle," Melanie teased. I stuck my tongue out at her and we slipped our shoes on and walked out the door.

Now, we're not good at finding things, so we may or may not have taken a little while to get to the roof.

We finally found where the door was and as we stepped outside, I said, "Jesus. Finding a freaking door to a roof is difficult."

"Are we even allowed to be out here...?" Melanie trailed off once we looked around and saw Christmas lights and candles everywhere.

"Nashy... What's going on here?!" I called out.

We heard Nash yell back, "Over here!" We followed his voice and saw Nash and Ian sitting on the edge of the roof with Ryan and Jamie.

"Um..." Melanie said.

"No. Absolutely not. Never. Not happening," I said, walking back to the door Melanie and I had just come out of. Nash ran in front of me and stopped suddenly, causing me to crash into him. "No, Nash! I don't want to do this! I can't!" I yelled, feeling tears start to form.

"You won't regret this, babe. I promise," he whispered, grabbing my hand and taking me back over where Ian had already taken Melanie to Ryan and Jamie. He made me stand in front of Jamie, much like Ian had Melanie stand in front of Ryan.

I looked everywhere but Jamie's direction, but I could feel him staring at me as Ryan started to speak, "We need to talk."

"There's nothing to talk about, Ryan. We know what we saw," Melanie said, suddenly getting angry.

"What you saw... That wasn't what you think it was," Jamie said, still staring at me. I laughed bitterly, finally looking at Jamie.

"Really?" I glared at him, "Because it looked to me like you and your brother were making out with Sarah and Morgan."

"I swear, that's not what happened at all," Ryan said.

"Then what did happen?! Because I would just love to know!" Melanie yelled slightly.

"They just ran into the room and started kissing us. That's when we heard you gasp, and that's what you guys saw. I swear, we would never purposefully hurt you two in any way," Ryan said.

"I don't know, Ry," Melanie said quietly.

"I know trusting people isn't easy for you, Melanie. Especially after what happened to you when you were a sophomore, but you've gotta believe me. When I said I loved you more than anything, I meant it, and I'll always mean it whether you want me to or not," he whispered. She took a deep breath and leaned toward him, wrapping her arms around his neck. I heard him sigh in relief and he hugged her back tightly.

As I was watching Ryan and Melanie, wondering how she could be so forgiving, I felt Jamie touch my hand.

I pulled back quickly and looked at him, fighting back tears, "No."

He breathed, "I know you're hurt, Danielle, but you have to believe that I would never hurt you like that on purpose. When you ran away without doing anything after you saw that, I knew you were completely crushed. I know we haven't been together that long. Hell, we only told each other we love each other not even two weeks ago, but I already know I love you more than I've ever loved anyone because I get butterflies every damn time I kiss you... I don't want to feel that with anyone else, and don't you dare try to say you don't feel the same because I know you do."

I tried to swallow the lump in my throat, but it wasn't working. I felt my cheeks get wet as I stepped backwards away from him, shaking my head slowly.

"I can't, Jamie..." I choked.

Jamie reached up and grabbed my face, kissing my lips as hard as he could. By the time I realized what was happening, he had already pulled away.

"Now try to tell me you didn't feel anything," he said, looking me in the eyes, letting go of me.

"Damn it," I mumbled, laying my forehead on his shoulder.

I heard him breathe a sigh of relief as he wrapped his arms around my waist. I sighed and brought my arms up, wrapping them around his neck tightly, crying softly.

"Hey, hey, hey," Jamie said quietly, pulling back and wiping my tears away with his thumbs, "Don't cry."

I shook my head, "But this my fault. I shouldn't have assumed-"

"We would have thought the same thing, it's okay," Ryan said.

"We should have trusted you though," Melanie replied, "We know they would do anything to ruin our lives – especially our relationships."

"They're not going to, okay? We've got you back, and we're never letting go, got it?" Ryan said. Melanie nodded and he leaned down, pressing his lips against hers.

~

Title: "Walls" by All Time Low


	22. You're Perfectly Worth It

-Danielle-

"Wait," I stopped as we were all walking back inside, "Does this mean you just pretended to call the pizza guy?"

"Yeah," Nash nodded, laughing.

"Then who did you call?" Melanie asked.

"Ryan," Nash shrugged.

Melanie and I looked at Ryan and he said, "Hey, Jamie and I had to know you guys were coming up somehow!"

"But... Food..." I pouted.

"How do you eat so much, but look like that?!" Ryan exclaimed, throwing his arm in the air toward me.

"Probably the same way you do," I replied, sticking my tongue out at him.

"We can order one when we get back to the room if you want," Ian chuckled.

"We're putting the phone on speaker this time," Melanie said, pointing her finger at Ian.

Ian put his hands in the air, "Alright. Speaker. Got it."

~

"Who wants to watch a scary movie?" Ryan asked after paying the pizza guy and closing the door, walking over to the couch and sitting next to Melanie. All the guys raised their hands, but Melanie and I didn't.

"Four against two! Scary movie time!" Nash yelled happily. Melanie and I stared at Nash and he frowned, sinking into his seat, "Or not..."

"But it's still three against three," Ryan said.

"Yeah, but two of those people are Mel and I," I smirked.

"So? That hardly seems fair!" he exclaimed.

"Ry," Melanie looked at him innocently.

"Damn it," Ryan mumbled, "Fine. We won't watch a scary movie."

"How about we make you a deal, Follese?" I said.

"What kinda deal?" he asked, raising his eyebrow.

"We watch Disney movies now, we'll have a scary movie marathon after your concert tomorrow night."

He grinned, stretching his arm out toward me, "Deal." I took his hand and shook it, smiling.

So that's basically all we did. We watched Disney movies, we sang along to the songs, and we stuffed our faces with pizza. Mostly all at the same time.

~

*The next night*

I was working merch – like I do every concert – with Melanie. We were laughing with a couple girls about completely random things that had nothing to do with the band before they went off to meet the guys.

A few minutes later, a girl came up and after she bought a shirt, she asked, "Is it true that you guys aren't dating Ryan and Jamie anymore?"

I looked at her, confused, "Of course not. Where did you hear that?" She took out her phone and handed it to me a few seconds later. "You have got to be kidding me," I sighed.

"What?" Melanie asked.

"Look at Morgan's Twitter," I replied, showing her the phone. Melanie leaned over my shoulder and read the screen with a somewhat shocked expression.

"'Sarah and Jamie are the cutest couple I've ever seen'? And what does she mean her and Ryan 'are still so in love with each other'?" she asked. I looked at the girl, handing her phone back to her.

"I promise nothing is going on between Morgan, Sarah, and the guys," I smiled, "Ryan and Melanie, and Jamie and I are very much still together."

She sighed in relief, "Good. To be honest, I don't really like them."

"Believe me, we're not very fond of them either," Melanie laughed.

The girl and I laughed along and as she was walking away, I yelled after her, "Thanks for buying our ridiculously priced merchandise!"

She turned around, smiled and called back, "Hey, it's cheaper than it would be anywhere else!"

"Yeah, if anywhere else had HCR merch!" Melanie laughed.

~

*After the concert*

"Alright, Paranormal Activity or Saw first?" Ryan asked excitedly as we walked back into the hotel room.

"Let's go with Paranormal Activity. I don't really feel like playing a game right now," I said casually, sitting on the couch. As everyone sat down, they gave me a weird look. "What...?" I asked, "Isn't that what Saw is...? That guy that looks like a clown asking people if they wanna play a game...?"

"Oh..." they all said at the same time.

"I see what you did there," Jamie continued.

"Yeah, it took you a while, but you caught on. I'm proud of you," I joked. He pushed on my cheek lightly and I laughed.

~

Not even 20 minutes into the movie, Melanie and I were already hiding behind pillows. We jumped a few times, and each time, we would get a laugh from the guys.

The next time it happened, Melanie yelled, "It's not funny!"

"If you girls can't handle it, you can go to bed early," Ryan joked. Melanie and I looked at each other, then quickly jumped up and ran into our room. "I was kidding!" we heard Ryan yell after us, laughing.

"Oh my God, why the hell did I make that deal?" I breathed after I buried myself under the covers of my bed.

"Don't worry," Melanie said, "We got out of it."

"Yeah but I'm not gonna be able to sleep for a month now!"

"You're telling me," Melanie sighed, "We should at least try to sleep, though. You know, not think about it."

I nodded, and went to turn off the lamp on my nightstand, but pulled my hand back, "I think I'm leave this on.."

Melanie laughed, "Same here."

"Night, Mel," I smiled.

"Night, Danielle," she smiled back.

~

I was almost asleep when I felt someone jump onto the bed beside me. I screamed, sitting up, and saw Jamie smiling widely at me.

I hit his arm as hard as I could, yelling, "Jamie! Don't do that!"

He rubbed his arm, but laughed, "I'm sorry. I had to."

"I was almost asleep though! I'm never gonna get back to sleep now!"

He chuckled, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'll do anything to make it up to you."

I thought about it for a moment, "Sing to me."

"Anything but that."

"Why?" I whined.

"I don't sing, you know that."

"You sing in the shower!" He looked at me with a shocked expression and I just smirked, "I'm going blind, not deaf, Jamie. I can hear you, and you're really good."

"Thanks, but no."

I smirked again before yelling, "Nashy!"

"Danielle!" he yelled back in the same tone.

"Will you come sing me to sleep again?"

"Why can't loverboy do it?"

"He refuses to believe he's a good singer!"

"Jamie," Nash laughed, "We can hear you singing in the shower, you know."

"Does everyone think that?!" he yelled, throwing his arms up.

Ryan, who had walked in with Jamie, Melanie, who was awoken by the scream Jamie caused, and Ian all yelled, "Yes!"

Jamie groaned and I rolled my eyes, "Nashy!"

"Alright, alright! I'll do it!" Jamie said, throwing his hands in the air. He crawled under the blanket and laid beside me as he sighed, "What song?"

"Well," I started, "I think it's only fair that you and your brother sing Forever Unstoppable for waking Melanie and I up, given the fact that it was that scary movie that caused all of this."

"Actually, you made the deal!" Ryan exclaimed.

"But had you not been pouting, she wouldn't have," Melanie pointed out. Ryan shrugged, laying next to Melanie.

"How are we doing this, bro?" Ryan asked.

"I'll come in at the chorus, I guess," Jamie mumbled.

"Boy, I swear, if you don't sing this like you mean it, everyone hearing you sing in the shower will be the least of your worries," I threatened. I saw him grin, making me smile and kiss his cheek, laying my head on his chest as Ryan started the song.

When it got closer to the chorus, I could hear Jamie's heart beat faster and I knew he was getting nervous. I grabbed his hand and held it tightly, but never lifted my head to look at him. He breathed, and his heart rate slowed down slightly as he joined Ryan.

When the song was over, I finally looked up at him and whispered, "I knew you could do it." Jamie let out a breath and chuckled, kissing my nose. I smiled, leaning in and kissing his lips before I laid back down.

"And it was supposed to make you sleep," he whispered back. I simply chuckled in response, drifting off to sleep a few moments later.

~

Title: "Forever Unstoppable" by Hot Chelle Rae


	23. Come Morning Light, You and I'll Be Safe and Sound

-Melanie-

"Ryan! Slow down," I laughed as Ryan held my hand tightly, running down the sidewalk.

"I can't! Too excited!" he yelled.

"Where are we going anyway?"

"It's a surprise!"

"Ry, I don't like surprises," I pouted. He suddenly stopped running, making me crash into him. "Ow," I groaned.

He smiled apologetically and kissed me, "Sorry about that, but you'll love this surprise." He held my hand again as we continued walking.

A few minutes later, he let go of my hand and moved his own over my eyes.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"I told you it's a surprise!" he exclaimed.

"I swear, if I fall..."

"I'm not gonna let you fall. Don't worry your pretty face about it," he smirked.

I sighed as we kept walking to wherever he was taking me. We stopped and I could feel his breath on my right ear, making me shiver.

"Surprise," he whispered, moving his hand away from my eyes.

I covered my mouth with my hand and smiled as I looked at the picnic that was set up in front of us, "Ryan, this is beautiful."

"Still never as beautiful as you," he smiled back.

"What's the occasion?" I asked as we sat down on the blanket.

"What? Are guys not allowed to take their girlfriends out without a reason?" he gasped, putting his hand on his chest.

"Not when you're a Follese," I smiled.

"Just think of this as your birthday dinner," he smiled back.

"Ah, peanut butter sandwiches, pink lemonade, and cupcakes. You know how I feel about you spending all this money on me, Ry," I said sarcastically.

"As a member of the male species, it is my job to spoil my girlfriend whether she likes it or not," he announced.

"Huh," I smirked, "No one would ever be able to tell you were a guy considering how much you go shopping."

"Ow, Melanie. That really hurt," he laughed.

I shrugged, "I only say it because I love you."

He smiled and kissed my forehead, "I love you too."

~

"You'll never take me alive!" I screamed, running around the park after I may or may not have accidentally smeared some icing on Ryan's nose.

"You are so going to pay for that, missy!" he yelled back, laughing. He finally caught up to me, grabbing my waist and spinning me around.

I screamed again and laughed, "Don't hurt me!" He turned me around to face him and I laughed louder when I saw he still had the icing on his nose.

"Get it off," he said, pointing to his nose.

"Why? Your hands work perfectly fine," I giggled.

"You did it!" he laughed.

"It was an accident," I smiled innocently at him.

"Oh, sure it was," Ryan chuckled.

"Well, how do you expect me to get it? I'm not touching it and I don't have a napkin," I laughed again.

He shrugged, "Should've thought about that before you did it." I smirked and grabbed his cheeks, pulling his face toward mine, licking his nose lightly.

"All clean," I smiled.

He looked at me wide-eyed, then started laughing as he wiped his nose, "I can't believe you actually did that."

"Well, I told you I wasn't gonna touch it," I shrugged.

He smiled at me, "You're so weird."

"But you love me," I smiled.

"That I do," he replied, pressing his lips against mine.

~

"Guess what we just bought," I sang, skipping back into our hotel room.

"Cookies?!" Danielle screamed happily, bouncing up and down on the couch.

"No, but close!"

"What did you buy then?" Ian asked, laughing at Danielle's now sad facial expression.

"A movie," Ryan chuckled.

"How are cookies close to a movie?!" Danielle yelled.

"It's not just any movie," I smiled.

"Danielle is not amused," she interrupted, crossing her arms.

"Well, I guess you wouldn't wanna watch this then," I sighed, throwing the movie onto her lap.

She looked down and screamed again, "I didn't know The Hunger Games was on DVD already!" She threw the case at Jamie and yelled, "Put it in!"

"Now, ask nicely," he chuckled.

"Jamie, put the movie in before I tackle you," she smiled sweetly at him.

They stared at each other for a few seconds before Jamie said, "You're bluffing."

"You shouldn't have said that," I giggled as I watched Danielle grin.

"What do you mean?" Jamie asked, turning his attention to me. Danielle took that opportunity to jump on Jamie.

He groaned and she simply smiled, "Don't doubt me."

"Uh, you realize that I can't put in the movie if you're sitting on me, right?" Jamie asked after a few more seconds.

"But you're comfy," Danielle said, sticking out her bottom lip.

"That still doesn't mean I can put in your movie," Jamie laughed.

She got off of Jamie and moved to lean against Nash, "Nashy will love me."

Jamie looked at Nash and he raised his hands up quickly, "Don't look at me, man. I'm just waiting to watch the movie."

Jamie chuckled and shook his head as he opened the DVD's case and put the movie in the DVD player. Ryan grabbed the remote as we all sat down in front of the TV. Jamie returned to his seat and Danielle happily made her way back over to his side.

"Thank you, Jamie," she smiled, dragging out his name and kissing his cheek.

He rolled his eyes and laughed, wrapping his arm around her, "It's only because I love you." She smiled again and laid her head on his shoulder as Ryan started the movie.

~

"Oh, God. I'm gonna cry again," Danielle exclaimed close to the middle of the movie.

"Why?" Jamie laughed.

"Man, if you don't get the least bit emotional at this part, you have no soul," Ian chuckled.

"The only one not allowed to have a soul here is Nash," Ryan announced.

"Yeah, Jamie, and even I'm a little moved by it," Nash laughed lightly. Jamie simply shrugged and we watched the rest of the movie.

~

I must have fallen asleep at some point, because I was woken up by Ryan picking me up.

I mumbled and he whispered, "Just go back to sleep, babe." I sighed as he laid me down on our bed and wrapped his arms around me once he laid beside me. "I love you, Mel," I heard him say and felt him kiss my forehead right before I fell asleep again.

~

Title: "Safe and Sound" by Taylor Swift ft The Civil Wars


	24. I've Got No Problem with Saying Goodbye

-Melanie-

It's been a few months, and Ryan and I broke up. Before you jump to conclusions, it was a mutual decision. If mutual means he accused me of cheating and I broke up with him because he doesn't trust me... That's exactly what happened. I didn't do anything wrong, I promise. If I did anything wrong, it would be thinking that it would all actually last.

Ryan's a celebrity, I'm not. Ryan's got all the money he could ever need, I don't. Ryan has people who would kill to date him, I don't. But enough about that. I can't date someone who doesn't trust me, especially after he's known me so long.

I am, however, happy to say that Jamie and Danielle are still going strong and are nearing their one year anniversary. Him, Nash, Ian, and Maggie still come to visit whenever they can, and I swear, Jamie still looks at Danielle like it was the first time they started dating.

"Turn on the TV!" Danielle screamed, running down the stairs and into the living room.

"Danielle, I'm trying to read," I replied, looking up from my book.

"This is way more important than your book!" she yelled again, fumbling with the remote.

"What's the emergency?" I asked, marking my spot and closing the book as Danielle was finally able to turn the TV on. She went to MTV and I heard the end of Honestly.

"Jamie just called and said you needed to see this," she breathed deeply.

"Alright, what you just saw was the premiere of the brand new music video from Hot Chelle Rae," the host said.

I looked at Danielle with narrow eyes as she just glared at the TV, "Just watch, Mel." I rolled my eyes and turned my attention back to the television as the interview continued.

"Now, what is this song about?" the host asked.

"It's basically about a crazy ex-girlfriend who has, in a way, done you wrong and you just want to go out and have a good time with your friends," Ryan said.

"Any specific ex-girlfriend you wrote this for?"

"Not necessarily, but the video was done with my most recent ex in mind," Ryan smiled.

My jaw dropped as soon as he said that.

"What the fuck?!" I yelled. I picked up my phone and angrily typed the number that was on the TV screen and waited. As soon as I heard the host say, "You're on live!", I got even more mad.

"That's not what happened and you know it, Ryan," I snapped.

His facial expression dropped and I could tell he was shocked as he said, getting as close the same tone I had as he could, "That's exactly what happen and you know it, Melanie."

I laughed bitterly, "Oh, huge rockstar always thinks he's right about everything. I didn't cheat, Ryan. I never would and you know that. He came up to me and pushed me against the wall right as you walked into the room. If you don't want to believe that, fine, but Jamie, Nash, Ian, Maggie, and Danielle all know it's the truth because they saw it happen. I'm not trying to make you look like an idiot on live TV, Ryan – I'm not – but this is the only way you'd listen to my side of the story instead of what your huge ego made up." Before Ryan could say anything, I hung up. I looked over at Danielle and she was looking at me like she just saw a ghost.

"I can't believe you just did that," she finally said.

"Well, it's true," I mumbled, "I'm going out for a walk. I might be out for a couple hours. Don't wait up for me, okay?"

Danielle just nodded as I walked out of our house and down the street. I went to the park I always went to when I needed to clear my head.

My thoughts were spinning. I really didn't know why I called. Sure, I knew it was the only way to get Ryan to listen to me, but even then, if he realized he was wrong, I wouldn't know if I'd forgive him. I mean, he didn't even trust me enough to let me tell him my side of the story when it actually happened.

If he'd would have just let me explain that it was the senior I dated sophomore year, none of this would be happening.

~

Title: "Honestly" by Hot Chelle Rae


	25. You've Got a Lot to Say For the One Who Walked Away

-Ryan-

"Um, we'll be back with Carly Rae Jepsen right after this," I vaguely heard the host say.

"And we're off," one of the producers said.

"Oh my God, I'm such an idiot," I said outloud, but more to myself as I rested my face in my hands. But it was at that moment I knew what I had to do.

I jumped up off of the chair I was sitting on and ran backstage.

"What are you doing?!" Jamie yelled as he, Nash, and Ian started running after me.

"I'm going home," I replied simply.

"Going home? What do you mean going home?" Ian asked.

I stopped and turned around to face them, "I'm getting Mel back."

"Finally!" Nash yelled, "I thought you'd never come to your senses!"

"Whatever, man. I just need to get home as fast as possible," I sighed.

~

About 3 hours later, we landed in Nashville.

"Fastest flight ever," Jamie said as we stepped off of the plane.

"Maybe they knew Ryan's plan," Nash said.

"What is your plan exactly?" Ian asked me.

"Can we skip all the small talk and just get to Melanie and Danielle's house, please?" I asked, slightly irritated.

"Calm down, diva. We're going," Jamie said.

~

We all stepped onto Melanie and Danielle's porch half an hour later and I knocked as quickly as I could, not stopping.

We heard Danielle yell, "I heard you the first 50 fucking times. Calm the f-"

She froze when she opened the door. She smiled when she looked at Jamie and he immediately hugged her as tightly as he could.

She hugged him back, "What are you guys doing here? I didn't think you were supposed to be back for another month."

"Where's Melanie?" I rushed.

She glared at me, much like she has been for the past few months, "I don't know."

"Look, Danielle. I know you're pissed at me and I'm sorry. I'm an idiot. I just... I need to know where she is," I begged.

Her facial expression softened, "I seriously don't know, Ry. She said she was going out for a walk a few hours ago, but she hasn't come back yet."

"And you're not worried at all?" Nash asked.

"I haven't gotten the feeling that anything was wrong with her," she shrugged, looking at Nash.

"You know she goes to the park when she's upset. Try there," Jamie said, still holding his girlfriend. I hopped off of the porch and started running for the park.

-Danielle-

"Oh, hey. Come in," I said, stepping out from in front of the doorway. Jamie was still holding my waist as Nash and Ian stepped through the door.

"Do you think she'll forgive him?" Nash asked as we all sat down on the couch.

I sighed, "I honestly don't know. She was hurt pretty badly."

"But he knows what really happened, she'll understand he was just jealous, right?" Ian asked.

"It's not that simple, Ian. He may have realized that what happened wasn't what he thought it was, but that doesn't change the fact he accused her of cheating. She doesn't believe he trusts her anymore," I said before mumbling something else.

"What was that, babe?" Jamie asked.

I silently cursed myself for making that heard before I took a deep breath, "The guy that kissed her was Chad – the senior she dated sophomore year."

"How did he find her?" Jamie asked, shocked.

"What?" Ian asked, obviously confused.

I giggled, "We really don't tell you anything, do we, Ian?" He stuck his bottom lip out slightly and shook his head. I told him and Nash the story and they asked the same question Jamie did when I was done. "I don't know. All I know is he did and he probably knows where we live, too. It's not safe for her here. He wants her back for some stupid reason. I know she's still in love with Ryan. She mopes around all day and she's not as happy as she was when they were together," I sighed again, laying my head on Jamie's shoulder.

"They'll get back together," Jamie said confidently, "I know they will."

~

-Melanie-

The park was empty and I was sitting up in my favorite tree. Well, our favorite tree. Ryan and I claimed this tree as our own and we liked to sit on the branches and talk about whatever came to mind. It was a little weird not seeing him sitting right in front me as I leaned back against the tree like I always would, but I was glad at the same time because I hate crying in front of people. It's easier to just come here and cry because, while I know she means well, Danielle gets a little crazy with the questions sometimes.

All of a sudden, I heard someone walk up to the tree and sit down on the ground to my right. I looked down and saw a guy sitting against the tree with his knees pulled up to his chest, running his hands through his hair.

He sighed and said out loud, "I am such a fucking idiot."

I knew that voice anywhere. It was the voice that's been echoing through my head for the past 6 months. The voice that could only belong to Ryan. He kept talking, obviously not knowing I was there.

"Is this life's way of punishing me?" he asked no one, "By making me feel like shit? Well, you know what? I'm sorry. I'm sorry I jumped to conclusions. I'm sorry I didn't listen to her. I'm sorry I made her break up with me. I'm just sorry, okay? But you know what I'm not sorry for? I'm not sorry for falling in love with her... Because that girl is the best fucking thing that's ever happened to me and I would do anything to get her back." I heard him sniffle and I knew he was crying as he continued talking to himself, "I love you, Mel... I love you more than anything."

I leaned my head back against the tree and sniffled before taking a shaky breath and saying loud enough for him to hear me, "I love you, too, Ryan." He jumped up as I bit my lip and smiled sheepishly at him when he looked up at me.

"Melanie!" he basically yelled, "How long have you been there?"

I shrugged, "For a while."

He looked down and said quietly, "You heard everything I said, didn't you?" I jumped down off the branch I was sitting on and landed in front of him.

"I mean it, Ry," I said quietly, "I do love you."

He looked up at me, "How? I fucked up. You should hate me."

"Ryan," I said.

"You shouldn't want anything to do with me."

"Ryan."

"You should-"

"Ryan!" I yelled, grabbing his face and making him look at me, smiling lightly, "Shut up." He sighed and looked at me as I kept talking, "Yes, I should hate you for what you did, but I don't."

"Why?" his voice cracked.

"Because this is exactly what happened six months ago when I thought you were cheating on me with Morgan!"

"But I didn't break up with you."

"That doesn't matter. Look, you promised me that you weren't going to let them break us up then, and I'm promising you that I'm not going to let that happen now. I love you, Ryan. More than anything, got it?" He nodded slightly and I smiled, wiping his wet cheeks with my thumbs before pulling his face to mine.

"This is really embarrassing," he chuckled when we pulled away.

I shrugged, "Just shows you have a sensitive side." He looked down slightly and I could tell he was slightly shocked by something. "Ry-"

I started before he cut me off, "You still wear that necklace?"

"I never take it off," I whispered, looking into his eyes. He grabbed my hand as we walked back to my house.

"You know," he said, "The 18th would have been our one year anniversary."

"As far as I'm concerned, it still is," I smiled, bumping into his arm.

"Oh, you wanna play that game, huh?" he smirked, returning the favor.

"That was much harder!" I laughed.

"It was not. You're just being a baby," he chuckled.

"Well, that was rude," I giggled.

"I hope you're not expecting an apology, because you're not getting one," Ryan said, sticking his tongue out at me.

I laughed lightly, "I think you've done enough apologizing for one afternoon, babe."

"As you always say, enough is never enough," he said.

"That's when I'm talking about food," I laughed loudly.

He picked me up bridal style and smiled at me, "And you're still light as a feather." I rolled my eyes and grinned, kissing his cheek. Ryan set me back down on the ground once we reached my house and we walked inside hand-in-hand.

"Thank the Lord!" Nash yelled when he saw us.

I shook my head and smiled, "What have you guys been up to?"

"Our favorite activity," Danielle smiled, pointing at the TV.

I saw they were watching Lifetime and I pulled Ryan over to the couch sitting in between him and Ian, "Is this that Parent Trap rip-off again?!"

"Different one," Danielle replied.

"They ripped it off again?"

"Yeah, but this time it's about twin boys."

"Whoa, wait," I said, looking more closely at the screen, "Is that Dylan and Cole Sprouse?"

Danielle nodded slowly, staring at the screen as well, "Puberty was so good to those boys."

"Babe," Jamie laughed.

"What?!" she exclaimed, "You cannot tell me that you don't find them the least bit attractive!"

"Well, I'm not gay, so... Yeah, I can."

"I'm not playing for the same team either, but I have a huge crush on Demi Lovato," Danielle stated seriously as we all laughed.

"How did I get stuck dating the weirdo of the group?" Jamie joked.

"Because I'm adorable and that's why you asked me out, so-" she stuck her tongue out at him before crossing her arms and repositioning herself to lean against Nash, "Everyone but you seems to enjoy my weirdness."

"Well, Morgan did get one thing right," I said, "They do bicker like an old married couple."

"And it's the only thing she'll ever be right about," Ryan chuckled, kissing my cheek.

"But I'm cuter than an old married couple," Danielle said.

"I don't know about that, babe," Nash smirked.

She lifted herself off of Nash and moved back to Jamie, curling up in his lap, "Jamie, Nashy's being mean to me again!"

Jamie tried not to laugh as he wrapped his arms around Danielle, "Overstreet, what did I tell you about being mean to her?"

"I didn't do anything though!" Nash exclaimed.

"Oh, no, man. We all saw it. You were so mean," Ian chuckled.

"This is not okay," Nash said.

"Should've thought about that before you said anything," Ryan laughed.

"Mel, help me out here," Nash begged.

"Sorry, Nash. I'm gonna have to side with Danielle on this one," I giggled. He let out a loud sigh and Danielle finally smiled, unable to keep a straight face, moving over to Nash and sitting on his lap.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and giggled, "I love you, Nashy."

He rolled his eyes and smiled, hugging her back, "I love you too, Danielle."

~

"What do you guys want to do now?" Ian asked when the movie was over.

"Eat," Danielle groaned.

"You always want to eat!" we all said at the same time.

She looked around at everyone as we laughed and said, "That doesn't change the fact that I'm hungry."

"Well, what do you want?" Ian chuckled.

She was about to answer when Nash and Jamie said, "French fries."

Danielle wrapped her arms around their shoulders and pulled them closer to her, "You know me so well." She kissed them on the cheek and they both rolled their eyes and laughed.

"Alright, love birds," Ryan chuckled, standing up and grabbing the keys to Danielle's car off the end table, "Let's go get some food."

"Hey, loverboy. What do you think you're doing with my keys?" Danielle asked, jumping up from her seat.

"Do you want food?"

Ryan stared at her and she frowned, "Yes."

"Then I'm driving," he smiled.

"My car can only hold 5 people though."

"Well, I guess you're gonna have to sit on someone's lap then."

"Why can't Ian sit on someone's lap?!" she yelled.

"Come on, Danielle. We all know Melanie's sitting up front with Ryan and you two are the lightest in the group. I don't think you'd want me to sit on you anyway," Ian chuckled.

"Yeah, your hair probably makes you 5 pounds heavier than you actually are," she replied, sticking her tongue out at him.

He put his hand over his heart, "That hurt, Danielle. That really hurt. And you're gonna pay for it."

Ian grabbed her before she had time to protest, picking her up and throwing her over his shoulder. She screamed, then laughed as he carried her outside. I made sure the door was locked and all that fun stuff before trotting out to Danielle's car.

"Ian," Danielle said.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Has Maggie ever told you that you have a nice ass?"

"Not that I can remember," he replied, setting her down when we got to the car.

She nodded slowly, looking at him with a straight face, "I'm gonna tell her she should."

He looked at her for a moment before turning his head toward Jamie, "Jamie, your girlfriend's hitting on me."

Jamie simply laughed as he climbed into the backseat, "She hits on everyone."

"However," Danielle said, climbing in after Jamie and sitting on his lap, "I have yet to make my move on Ryan."

"I can't wait," Ryan joked, starting the car. Nash climbed in next to Jamie and Danielle, then Ian.

"Aw, Ian. I can't hit on you when you're that far away from me," Danielle whined when Ryan pulled out of the driveway.

"Oh, damn. Well, I guess you'll have to hit on Jamie," Ian smirked.

"You planned this, asshole," she said, pointing at him.

"First you're hitting on me, now you're calling me an asshole. I don't think you understand how this flirting thing works."

"I don't think you understand how I work," she replied, sticking her tongue out at Ian again.

"Kids!" Ryan jokingly yelled, "I will turn this car around!"

Ian and Danielle looked at him and stuck out their bottom lips, "Sorry, Dad."

"And to think I thought you guys were weird before I met you," I chuckled.

Ryan laughed and rested his hand on my thigh, winking at me, "I'm just surprised we didn't scare you away."

I patted his hand a few times before holding it, and smiling, "I've lived with Danielle for a year. I think I can handle pretty much anything."

"I can hear you!" Danielle yelled.

"Good," I teased.

"I will cut you."

"I love you too, Danielle," I giggled.

~

-Ryan-

"Alright, time to get serious," Danielle suddenly said after we were finished eating.

"Serious about what?" Melanie asked, avoiding eye contact with Danielle.

"You know what I'm talking about, Mel. Chad probably knows where we live."

"So? He's not gonna do anything," Melanie protested.

"Melanie, he caused you and Ry to break up!" Danielle exclaimed, "I know him better than you think I do! If he showed up once, it's gonna happen again!"

"That was six months ago. He wouldn't wait this long," Melanie mumbled.

"I'm just not willing to take that chance, Mel. If he shows up while you're home alone-"

Melanie cut her off, "He's not going to show up." She laughed lightly, "You wouldn't stand a chance against him anyway."

"I wouldn't be too sure of that," Jamie said.

"We all know how she gets when she's mad," Nash added.

Danielle glared at them before turning back to Melanie and simply saying, "Seriously."

Melanie sighed, "Even then, where would we go? We can't just move back in with our parents and all of Eli's other houses are rented out."

Danielle paused for a moment, so I immediately said, "Move in with me." Everyone looked at me, but I kept my eyes on Melanie and Danielle.

"I think what he means is move in with us," Jamie said.

"Us?" Danielle cocked an eyebrow.

"See? There are things we don't tell you guys either," Ian smirked.

"When you told us about your families and how your boss rents out houses, we decided to buy one," Nash smiled.

Melanie and Danielle looked at each other before Melanie said, "We can't just move in with you guys like that..."

"It's okay, really," Ian replied, "As long as you two are safe, it's cool with us."

I smiled, "So it's settled. You're moving in with us."

"Whoa, there. We didn't give you an answer," Danielle giggled.

"So you're not moving in with us?" Jamie asked, sounding disappointed.

"No, we are," she smiled at him, "I'm just saying we didn't give you an answer."

"Then what's your answer?" I joked.

Melanie shoved my shoulder and laughed, "Yes, Ry. We'll move in with you guys."

~

Title: "Stay With Me" by You Me At Six


	26. I'm Gonna Love You Like I've Never Been Broken

-Melanie-

"Thank God that's over," I sighed, plopping down on the couch. Danielle and I had just brought the last few boxes over from our house to the band's and we were both wiped out.

"We still have to unpack everything, Mel," Ryan laughed, sitting next to me, patting my leg.

"Don't remind us, Ry," Danielle groaned, walking in and throwing herself onto an open seat on the couch as well.

"Oh, stop whining. You act like it was the most difficult thing in the world," Jamie chuckled, sitting beside her.

"Oh, whatever! You didn't even do anything!" Danielle said loudly.

"I carried boxes!"

"You carried one box, Jaim," I laughed.

"Yeah, and it was really heavy!" he exclaimed.

"Look, I know Danielle has a lot of shoes, but it really wasn't that bad," Nash said, walking into the room with Ian.

"I resent that!" Danielle yelled, pointing at Nash, "You have way more shoes than I do!"

"Besides," Ian started, "You guys live three houses away. It wasn't that long of a walk."

"Lived," I corrected him, smiling.

"And we were walking here with heavy boxes, Keaggy," Danielle said.

"You're just asking to be thrown over my shoulder again, Myers," Ian jokingly threatened.

"You won't do it, pretty boy!" she stuck her tongue out at him and stood up, starting to walk away.

"Why are you leaving me?" Jamie whined.

"I have to pee, Jamie. Do you have a problem with that?" Jamie groaned and Danielle simply laughed, "You asked, babe."

~

A couple hours later, Danielle and I were done unpacking and decided to go out for a walk while the guys worked on writing some songs.

"Who's that standing on our porch?" Danielle asked suddenly.

I looked over at the house we just finished moving out of and as when we got closer, we instantly froze and whispered in unison, "Oh my God."

We looked at each other and turned around, bolting back toward our new home, nearly breaking down the door when we ran in.

-Ryan-

We took a break from our songwriting and were just joking around when we heard a loud sound. Our heads immediately shot up and looked toward the direction of the door where Melanie and Danielle were standing with a look of shock just plastered on their faces. Our smiles immediately disappeared and I jumped up, rushing over to Melanie.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"He...and...our house...and..." Melanie struggled to say as her eyes started getting watery. I looked at Danielle, hoping she could answer my question, but she just kept shaking her head. Jamie grabbed Danielle and crashed her into him, holding her closely.

"He's back," she whispered.

"Who? Who's back?" Nash asked.

"He's back," Melanie repeated quietly, but then slightly louder, almost yelling, "Chad is back!"

I stared at Melanie in complete shock and Jamie asked, "What do you mean he's back?"

"We... We were walking around the neighborhood and when we walked by our house, he... He was standing on the porch," Danielle stuttered slightly.

"Maybe he just looked like Chad and you-"

I started to say before Melanie cut me off, yelling, "I'm not blind, Ryan! He's fucking back!"

I jumped a little when she yelled at me. I let go of Melanie, grabbed a small box off of the kitchen counter and a messenger bag that was hanging on one of the dining room chairs, and opened the front door.

"What are you doing, man?" Ian asked.

"I'm gonna find out why that asshole came back," I said plainly, slamming the door behind me.

-Melanie-

"He's mad at me, isn't he?" I asked quietly after Ryan left.

Danielle took a deep breath and let it out, calming herself down before she said, "Why would he be mad at you?"

"Because I yelled at him," I whispered, sniffling and starting to tear up again.

"Oh, Mel," Jamie said softly, letting go of Danielle and wrapping his arms around me, "He's not mad about that."

"How do you know?" I mumbled into his shoulder.

"Mel, the kid loves you more than anything. He would probably quit the band if it meant being with you," Nash rambled. Danielle elbowed his side and gave him a look. "Obviously not that he would ever have to make that decision or anything..." he chuckled nervously, rubbing the spot where Danielle elbowed him.

"He's not mad at you, okay? He's mad at the asshole who made you want to kill yourself, do you understand me?" Jamie said, grabbing my shoulders and looking me in the eyes. I sniffled again and nodded slowly as he let go of me.

"Why don't you girls go lay down and rest?" Ian said, putting his hand on our backs and leading us to the bedrooms.

"Since these are probably where you'll end up anyway," Ian started before leading Danielle to a room and saying, "This is Jamie's room." He then turned me to the room directly across from where Danielle was and smiled at me, "And this is Ryan's room. Now go lay down."

"Can I have a-" Danielle started before being cut off by Ian.

"No."

"But I'm thirsty," she pouted.

He lightly pushed her into Jamie's room, "Nap time."

I rolled my eyes and laughed lightly as I turned around, taking a moment to observe Ryan's room before I walked over to the bed, slipping my shoes off and climbing under the covers, and unlike most of the time during stressful situations when I have trouble sleeping, I fell asleep almost as soon as I laid down.

-Ryan-

I'll admit I was a bit nervous as I got closer to the house Melanie and Danielle once lived in and noticed a man standing on their porch. I took a deep breath and walked up their sidewalk.

"Hello, sir," I smiled at whom I'm assuming was Chad.

"Hi," he replied. It was obvious he didn't recognize me from being in Hot Chelle Rae, which made me insanely happy.

I moved to knock on the door as if I was delivering the package to the girls, but Chad said, "They're not home."

"I'm sorry, who are you?" I asked, trying not to sound rude in any way.

"I'm Chad, Melanie's boyfriend. I came to pick her up for our date, but I forgot she went shopping. I didn't want to go all the way back home, so I just decided to wait here for her," he answered back calmly as if he rehearsed it.

"Oh, alright. Well, could you let her know I stopped by and have her give me a call so I can give her her package?" I asked smoothly.

"I can give it to her when she gets home," he said.

"If I could do that, I would, but Mel- er, Miss Pandocchi needs to sign for it. If you would let her know I stopped by, I'd really appreciate it," I smiled at him and nodded slightly, stepping off of the porch.

I could feel him staring at me, even as I continued walking down the sidewalk. I started walking quicker than I already was until I opened my front door. I sighed heavily and dropped the bag onto the floor as the guys looked at me.

"Where are the girls?" I asked, looking around.

"We sent them to go rest. What happened?" Ian replied.

"Well, it is him. He played it off like he and Mel are still dating and he forgot she went shopping so he was there waiting for her to get back," I sighed again, but angrily this time.

"Dick," Nash mumbled under his breath.

"Yeah, you're telling me," I said quietly. The guys were all looking at me again, so I said, "I'm gonna go check on Mel."

I walked back to our bedroom and found Melanie sleeping soundly, buried under the blanket. I felt a small grin tug at my lips as I quietly closed the door and walked over to the bed, carefully lifting the blanket and laying down next to Melanie. I wrapped my arms around her and held her closely. She mumbled and moved around slightly. She opened her eyes and blinked a few times before looking up at me.

"Sorry. Didn't mean to wake you," I said quietly. She smiled slightly and laid her head on my chest. "Babe," I said after a few minutes.

"Hmm?" she mumbled.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she lied.

"I haven't lost my sense of feeling, you know. I can tell you're crying."

"How?" she sighed.

"My shirt's getting wet," I chuckled lightly.

"Oh..." was all she said.

"Come on, Mel. Talk to me. Tell me what's wrong." She rolled over to lay on her stomach, propping herself up on her forearms, looking at me.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you earlier," she whispered, wiping a tear from her under her eye.

I looked back at her, "It's okay."

She shook her head, "No, it's not okay. I shouldn't have done that. It wasn't your fault. You were just trying to make me feel better, but I just blew up at you."

"You were just stressed out. I would have done the same thing if I was in your situation. I don't like seeing you unhappy, Melanie."

"But my ex is ruining every-"

I interrupted her, "What's he ruining, huh? So he's trying to get you back? It's not gonna happen. I'm not letting you get away, Melanie. Not for anything, and especially for your asshole of an ex." She looked down and went to wipe her face again, but I grabbed her hand and put two of my fingers under her chin, lifting her head up before wiping her cheek for her. I kept my hands on her cheeks and said, "I love you, Melanie. Nothing and no one will ever change that."

I started pulling her face toward mine as she whispered, "You promise?"

"I promise," I smiled.

"I love you too, Ryan," she said quietly, right before our lips touched.

~

Title: "Unbroken" by Demi Lovato


	27. Loverboy, You're Playing Those Hearts Like Toys

-Chad-

Something about that delivery kid didn't seem right. I stared at him as he left the porch, feeling like I knew his face from somewhere, but I wasn't able to put a name to it. I noticed he was walking back from the way he came, so I decided to follow him. He started walking quicker and quicker until he stepped onto a porch three houses down from where Melanie lived, but he walked right in. I knew something wasn't right when he slipped up and started to call Melanie by her first name, so I walked to the door and knocked until some Russell Brand wannabe and a guy with a stupid looking purple stripe in his hair answered the door.

-Melanie-

I heard someone knock pretty loudly on the front door, so I got up and peeked out the window, curious as to who was here. As soon as I looked, I threw the curtain closed and slid down the wall onto the floor.

"What's wrong?" Ryan asked, immediately sitting straight up.

"He's here! Why is he here?!" I whisper-yelled, feeling tears fall down my face.

"Who? Who's here?"

I just looked at him and a shocked expression crept onto his face, instantly knowing what I meant. Ryan jumped off of the bed and came over to where I was sitting as quickly as he could. He sat down and pulled me into his lap, holding me closely as I cried on his shoulder.

Nash walked in saying, "Some guy says he's here for the skinny kid with the stupid-ass haircut." Ryan looked at him and Nash threw his hands into the air, "His words, man – not mine."

"Well, is there any way you can get rid of him?" Ryan asked quietly.

"That depends. Is he from the IRS? Are we losing the house? Do you owe anyone money?" I was still crying on Ryan's shoulder when I felt him nod toward me and Nash immediately understood, "Oh, yeah, I'll get rid of him."

"Don't kill him," I said quietly before Nash walked out of the room.

"But he-" he stopped when he saw the look I was giving him. He sighed, "Fine."

Nash walked away and I looked up at Ryan, "What if he doesn't leave?"

"Then we'll call the cops," he said, wiping my cheeks. I sighed and leaned my head on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry," I whispered.

"Why are you sorry?" he asked, cradling me in his arms again.

"If it wasn't for me, this wouldn't be happening."

"You can't keep blaming yourself like this, Melanie. I told you before that I'm not letting you get away again, and your ex-boyfriend isn't going to scare me into doing it either."

I wrapped my arms around his waist, and we just held each other until we heard Danielle's scream a couple minutes later.

-Ryan-

I looked at Melanie, picking her up and setting her back down on the bed, "Stay here."

I ran out just as Nash yelled, "Go ahead, dick! Touch her again, I dare you!"

I saw Danielle standing behind Nash and Ian, tears falling as Jamie hugged her as closely as he possibly could. Everyone was glaring at Chad, who was now standing in our doorway.

"What the hell is going on here?!" I yelled, looking straight at Chad.

"How do you know my girlfriend?" he asked angrily.

I was about to answer when I heard Melanie's voice from behind me, "I'm not your girlfriend."

"Mel..." I whispered.

She shook her head, "This is my fight, Ry. Not yours." She turned to Chad and repeated, "I'm not your girlfriend – I haven't been for the past three years."

"Baby-"

Chad started before Melanie cut him off, "I'm not your baby, I'm not your girlfriend, I'm not your anything. I haven't been since the day you broke up with me because of that stupid-ass bet with your fucking friends." She paused and looked at me, then looked back at Chad and continued, "And I'll never be your anything again because I realized that what we had was nothing compared to what I have now, but I would like to thank you for everything you did to me." Everyone stared at Melanie in shock and she just smiled, "Thank you for being an asshole and causing our breakup and making me want to kill myself. Because if you hadn't done that, I probably never would have found out about Hot Chelle Rae and they wouldn't have saved me from doing something so stupid. I wouldn't have gone to their concert last year, and I wouldn't have met them." She looked me in the eyes, "And I wouldn't have met the best thing that's ever happened to me." Melanie walked over to the door and opened it, motioning for Chad to leave. He was in enough of a state of shock that he actually did walk out the door as Melanie smiled again, "And if you have a problem with my happiness... Well, that's just too bad because honestly, I just don't care." She closed the door behind him and turned back to the rest of us, "And that is how it's done." We all stared at her and she started talking again, "However, I may have to go back out there and beat the shit out of him for touching Danielle..."

Danielle sniffled and pushed herself up off of Jamie, looking at Melanie and rolling her eyes, "Quoting Honestly was bad enough."

"Please, you know you loved it," Melanie teased.

Danielle giggled and walked over to Melanie, hugging her tightly, "Of course I loved it!" They pulled away and Danielle smiled, wiping her face.

"You okay?" Melanie asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Can we just talk for a second about how much of a badass you are though?" Danielle squealed.

"Oh, no," Melanie laughed, "That was a once in a lifetime thing. I feel like I'm gonna throw up!"

"You didn't act like you were gonna throw up," Ian chuckled.

"I was in the moment and really pissed off," she giggled.

"Irregardless, what you did was still pretty badass," Jamie smiled, pulling Danielle back into his arms.

Melanie shrugged, "I know it won't be the last time he'll try something. I figured I should stand up to him now and stop hiding before he thinks he can walk all over me like he used to."

I pulled her into a hug as Nash exclaimed, "Hell yeah! Show him who's he's dealing with!"

Melanie simply laughed, "Exactly. So who's hungry?"

We all immediately looked at Danielle and she just smiled innocently, "What?"

"You know what," Ian chuckled.

"I do," she laughed.

I grabbed my car keys off of the kitchen counter, taking Melanie's hand as I walked toward the door, "Then let's go eat!"

"We eat out too much," Melanie laughed.

"We really do. How about we cook something at home?" Danielle suggested.

"We will tomorrow. I've really been craving a Big Mac," I chuckled.

"Oh, so you're craving things? Are you pregnant, Ry? Who's the father? Is it Nash? I knew something was up between you two," Melanie teased. Everyone busted out laughing, especially Danielle.

"Girl, I will hurt you," I joked.

"You could never hurt this pretty face," she replied, sticking her tongue out at me. I laughed as I opened her car door for her.

Right before she sat down, I kissed her cheek and whispered, "I wouldn't dream of it." I noticed her blush lightly and smiled to myself as I closed her door and jogged to the drivers side. "Everybody buckled?" I asked before pulling out of the driveway.

"Sir, yes, sir!" they said in unison, saluting me.

I rolled my eyes and laughed as I pulled into the street, "At ease, soldiers." They all smiled and lowered their arms and we just talked and joked about anything and everything the rest of the day.

~

Title: "Loverboy" by You Me At Six


	28. You Can Take My Heart if Yours Won't Beat

-Jamie-

"Jamie, where are we going?" Danielle giggled as I pulled her down the somewhat busy sidewalk.

"I told you already," I smiled.

"You said this was for our one year. You never told me where we were going."

"Well, we're almost there, so," I said, pulling her in front of me and covering her eyes.

"Jamie!" she whined.

"Nope, if you want your surprise, this is what's happening," I chuckled.

"But what if I die?"

"You're not gonna die," I laughed, "Don't be such a drama llama."

"You're stealing my phrases now, huh?" she smiled.

"Yeah, I've been hanging around you too much," I smirked.

"Well then, why are you dating me?!" she yelled sarcastically.

"Because I love you and you know it. Now shush."

"Rude."

"You won't be thinking that in a few seconds," I said, stopping her and uncovering her eyes.

"Jamie," she whispered, covering her mouth with her hands.

"Well, I know how much you love picnics and when I sing to you, so why not?" I smiled as I sat her down.

"Jamie Christian Follese is going to sing to me without me forcing him to?! Oh God, the world is ending!" she yelled dramatically as I sat down next to her. I rolled my eyes and chuckled, reaching into the picnic basket and throwing an apple slice at her. She picked it up and ate it. "I approve," she commented, "What else did you bring me?"

"You?"

"What else did you bring us?" she sighed.

I smiled at her, "All your favorites."

Her eyes widened, looking in the basket, "You put a McDonald's in here?" I looked at her and raised my eyebrow. She busted out laughing, "I'm kidding, Jaim. If you could really make that happen, more than just cuddling would be happening tonight."

She winked at me and I laughed, "I'll remember that for your birthday."

~

After we finished eating, we were laying on the blanket and looking at the clouds.

"You're on crack, Jamie! That one totally looks like a turtle," Danielle exclaimed, pointing at a cloud.

"It looks more like a dog to me," I shrugged.

"It's a turtle-dog. How about that?"

"A turtle-dog?"

"Well, you won't believe it's a turtle and it's clearly not a dog, but why not just compromise and say it's a turtle-dog?" she said, looking over at me. I smiled at her and she propped herself up on her elbow, facing me. "What?" she asked.

"Nothing. Am I not allowed to smile at my girlfriend?"

"Not like that, you're not." I sat up and she looked at me, raising her eyebrows.

"I know we said no presents..." I trailed off.

Danielle sat all the way up, "Jamie, you promised this wouldn't end up like Christmas."

"I know I did, but as your boyfriend, it's my job to not listen to you when it comes to getting you presents," I smiled.

"I didn't get you anything though. How do you think I feel when you buy me stuff and I don't have anything to give you in return?" she asked.

"You don't have to get me anything. All you have to do is say yes." She looked at me confused and I just pulled a ring out of my pocket.

"Jamie..."

"I'm not proposing," I chuckled, "It's a promise ring."

"But I already have one."

"I know, but the one you have is just in general. This one is for us and only us; Essentially to say that you're mine forever."

"Everyone already knows that though..."

She was still confused as I simply smiled at her, "It kinda has more meaning than that."

"Would you just tell me? You know I suck at guessing games," she grinned slightly.

"I know I tour a lot, so it would be hard for me to settle down. This is like a pre-proposal. I'm not actually officially proposing – not yet anyway. I just want to know that if I ever did, I wouldn't have to worry about the possibility of you saying no." I could tell she was speechless. I didn't blame her though – it was a lot to take in.

A few seconds passed by that felt like hours. I'll admit I was starting to feel like she was going to say no until I saw her bite her lip and a smile start to form. She leaned closer to me and kissed me.

She pulled away, smiling, "I would never say no, Jaim." I sighed in relief and smiled, replacing her ring with the new one. "Unless Niall Horan wants to marry me," she shrugged. She laughed at the look I gave her and kissed me again, "I love you, Jamie."

I shook my head and laughed, "I love you too, Danielle."

"So," Danielle said, admiring the ring on her finger, "How did you manage to get my ring size?"

"Mel," I replied simply.

"I really do tell her everything. I'm gonna have to ask her how that came up in a conversation," she giggled.

"You do that, babe," I chuckled.

"I will, thank you," she looked at me and smiled. I rolled my eyes again, returning the smile, and kissing her.

"Now about that song," I said.

"You're not backing out! You already mentioned it!" she yelled, pointing at me.

"I wasn't planning on it," I laughed. I grabbed the guitar and set it in my lap, then sang Forever Unstoppable to her.

When I finished, Danielle leaned toward me again and kissed me. I removed the guitar from my lap and replaced it with her.

She laid her head on my shoulder and sighed, "I remember when you refused to sing to me at all."

"I guess you bring out the confidence in me," I replied, kissing the top of her head.

~

Title: "Forever Unstoppable" by Hot Chelle Rae


	29. Tell Me that You Love Me and It'll Be Alright

-Ryan-

"Mel, I don't mean to offend you, but you really suck at bowling," I laughed.

"Ry, just because you say that doesn't make me any less offended," she replied, rolling her eyes, "Besides, tell me something I don't know."

"Ian and Maggie are getting married?" I smirked.

"Are they really?" she asked, wide-eyed.

"No," I chuckled.

"Don't tease me like that," she said seriously, "Your fans have been waiting for that since we found out they were together!"

"Tell him that."

"I have! On more than one occasion!" she laughed loudly, "Now get your ass up, it's your turn."

"I'm going, I'm going," I smiled. I turned around after getting a strike to see Melanie looking at me with her arms crossed. "What?" I asked innocently.

"Show-off," she giggled.

"Grab your ball," I smiled, "I'll help you this time." She picked up her bowling ball and we walked up to the lane. I stood behind her and held the back of the hand that was holding the ball, "Ready?"

"I think so," she mumbled and I swore she shivered a little bit.

I guided her arm back, then forward, telling her when to let go. We watched the ball roll down the lane, Melanie getting anxious as it moved closer and closer to the middle pin. 9 pins fell instantly, and I watched her stare intently at the 10th. It kept wobbling back and forth, eventually falling over.

She threw her arms up in the air, yelling, "Yes!" She spun around and jumped on me, throwing her arms around my neck.

"I knew you could do it," I laughed as I wrapped my arms around her waist tightly.

She let go, setting her feet back on the floor and smirked, "I had a wonderful guide." I smiled at her and gave her a quick kiss before we finished our game.

~

About 15 minutes later when we were done, we took our shoes back up to the counter and I grabbed her hand as we walked back out to my car.

"So, Mr. Follese, where to now?" she asked as I opened her door for her.

"Well, Miss Pandocchi," I replied in the same tone, "I was thinking we would go to the arcade."

She giggled, "Yeah, because I'm so much better at arcade games!"

"Your wonderful guide will always be here to assist you in your time of need," I smirked, closing her door and jogging to the other side of the car. I hopped in the drivers seat and started the engine.

"Just for that comment, I'm totally going to kick your ass at everything," she laughed.

"Oh, we'll see about that," I smirked.

~

I pulled into the arcade parking lot about 5 minutes later and we got out of the car. I grabbed her hand again as we walked inside. A fairly large group of girls – about 7 or so – turned toward the door at the same time and has the same starstruck expression on their face, like they knew I would be here.

They ran over to me, asking for autographs, pictures – the usual. The group crowded around me, causing mine and Melanie's grip on each others hands to break. She rolled her eyes, but backed away and leaned against the wall we were standing by. I saw Melanie chuckle a few times at some of the questions the girls asked, but her smile quickly faded after one of them asked why her and I were dating. I watched Melanie bite her lip, push herself off of the wall, and walk back outside. I turned back to the girl who asked the question and shook my head lightly.

"Because I'm in love with her," I answered in an angered tone, before running after Melanie.

-Melanie-

I opened the passenger door of Ryan's car and simply sat down. My elbows were resting on my thighs and I was running my hands lightly through my hair when I felt someone standing in front of me.

"Melanie..." Ryan whispered.

"Why is it always me? Why don't they ever ask Jamie that about Danielle, huh? He's quiet and she's always acting crazy! They're nothing alike! Why don't they ask him why he's with her?" I asked, looking up at him.

He sighed and reached his hand down to my face, wiping a tear I didn't know fell down, then pulled me to stand up with him. He moved me out of the way of the door before closing it and I leaned back onto his car. He pressed his hands against the car on both sides of me.

"I don't want to hear any speeches, Ryan. I've had enough of them from you for one lifetime," I mumbled.

"Well, that's just too bad, because I'm giving you one anyway," he replied. I sighed, looking away from him as he continued, "I don't know why they do it, Mel. But what I do know is that it doesn't make me want them any more or you any less." Ryan moved his hand to my cheek, turning my head so I was looking at him. "I love you and nothing they say will ever change that," he said before kissing me.

"Come on," Ryan said, opening my door again, "Let's go home."

"Whoa, hold up there," I replied, pushing him away from the door, closing it again, and grabbing his hand, dragging him back toward the building, "I'm still gonna kick your ass at these games!"

"Oh, are you now?" he smirked.

"Yes. Yes, I am," I smirked back.

We went back inside and the group of girls looked at us again. I stopped immediately and my smile quickly faded. His grip on my hand tightened and he pulled me through the building to the air hockey table.

"You, my dear, just happened to pick the one game I am absolutely beast at," I smiled.

"Oh, we'll see about that," Ryan exclaimed as we raced to the air hockey table. He beat me there and pointed at me, "Ha, ha! I beat you!"

"You'll be eating those words later, Follese!" I yelled dramatically.

"Bring it on, Pandocchi!" he yelled back.

~

After an intense 3rd match, I beat Ryan by one point.

I threw my hands up in the air and acted like an announcer, "And she does it, folks! Melanie Pandocchi goes for the gold and wins it all! The crowd is going absolutely wild!" I fake screamed to represent the audience, squealing when Ryan came up behind me and picked me up, carrying me back to the car. "Is the loser buying me dinner perhaps?" I asked as Ryan sat me down on my seat, wiggling my nose.

He closed my door, walking around the car and climbing into his own seat, chuckling, "Nope, better."

"What could possibly be better than my victory dinner?" I laughed loudly.

"You'll just have to wait and see," he smiled, pulling out of the parking lot.

-Ryan-

I pulled up to a lake and parked my car before reaching to the back seat and grabbing my iPod speakers.

"Ryan, don't you think live music is so much better?" Melanie joked as we walked toward the lake. I set the speakers on a picnic table and hooked up my iPod.

"It is, but it's harder for me to play guitar and dance at the same time," I replied.

"Dance?" she asked, tilting her head slightly and raising her eyebrows at me.

I searched through my songs until I found the one I was looking for. I clicked on A Daydream Away by All Time Low and set my iPod down. Melanie instantly smiled as I reached my right hand out to her and bowed.

"May I have this dance, miss?" I asked her.

She giggled, taking my hand, "Why, of course you may, sir!"

I snaked my left arm around her waist, pulling her into me and she rested her right arm across my shoulders. I brought my right hand up to my neck and let go so both of Melanie's arms were wrapped around my neck as I moved my arm back down and wrapped it around her waist.

She smiled and leaned her head against my chest. I rested my chin on top of her head and we just swayed to the song with a blanket of stars above us.

~

Title: "I Must Be Dreaming" by The Maine


	30. Even Broken Hearts May Have Their Doubts

-Ryan-

Melanie and I walked through our front door when we got home to find Jamie's feet propped up on the coffee table and Danielle sleeping with her head laying in his lap as he played with her hair in complete silence. The TV wasn't on, there was no music playing; It was just...quiet.

"Where are Nash and Ian?" I asked.

Jamie looked up, "They went to bed about half an hour ago."

"What are you still doing up?"

"I just got her to go to sleep," he said quietly, nodding toward his girlfriend.

"Why? She's always the first one out," Melanie said.

"Sarah," Jamie replied plainly.

"What happened?" she asked, rushing over to sit on the couch.

"I just gave her the ring and I was playing Forever Unstoppable for her. I finished and she wanted to hear another song, so I played another and that's when Sarah walked up-"

Melanie cut Jamie off, almost yelling, "What do you mean Sarah walked up?!" Danielle mumbled Jamie's name and moved around a bit, but didn't wake up.

"Melanie!" Jamie whisper yelled, nodding toward the girl laying in his lap.

"Sorry..." Melanie whispered, "What happened?"

"Like I was saying: I was playing another song for her and I saw her look behind me and her smile immediately dropped. I turned my head and Sarah was walking up. She said some not-so-nice things to Danielle and tried to grab her. Basically, one of them walked away with a bloody nose and a cut lip and it wasn't this girl," Jamie said, nodding toward Danielle again.

"That's my girl," Melanie smiled.

Jamie chuckled, then continued, "Anyway, as I said, the things Sarah told her weren't very nice and I could tell they really got to her. So, after Danielle hit her, we came home and just hung out with Nash and Ian."

"What did she say?" I asked, finally taking a seat on the couch.

"Called her a bitch, loser, jealous – you know, the usual stuff. She did ask me at one point 'why I was dating an ugly whore like her' and then pulled out this picture from I don't even know where of Danielle and Nash hugging and tried to tell me Danielle was cheating on me," he replied, rolling his eyes.

"That bitch," Melanie mumbled under her breath. It was really no shock to any of us that something like that said to Danielle would get to her. "I know it wasn't the accusation of cheating on you that got to her either," Melanie said, looking down at Danielle as Jamie continued to play with her hair.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"She never acts like anything bothers her and truthfully, barely anything people can say does – except when they call her ugly," she sighed.

"I tell her she's beautiful every chance I get though," Jamie said, shaking his head, "I thought she believed me."

"And she probably did up until today. All it takes is one comment, Jaim."

Jamie sighed, "I'm just gonna take her upstairs." Jamie carefully lifted Danielle's head off of his lap and stood up, turning back around to pick her up off of the couch. "Goodnight, guys," he said, walking away.

"Night, Jaim," Melanie called back.

~

*The next day*

I woke up the following morning and noticed Melanie wasn't laying beside me. Funny, I could have sworn she was there when I fell asleep... I walked into the kitchen to find everyone already awake and sitting at the table just talking.

"Well, hello there, Sleeping Beauty," Nash joked.

I laughed sarcastically, then replied seriously, "Shut up." I earned a small giggle from Danielle as she took a sip of her orange juice. Nash rolled his eyes and I sat down on the chair beside Melanie.

"Good morning, beautiful," I said to Melanie, kissing her cheek. "And good morning, beautiful to you too," I said, looking at Danielle. Her smile dropped and she looked over at Jamie. He smiled sheepishly and shrugged.

Danielle sighed, looking back at me, "Nice try, Ryan."

"You are and you know it," Nash said. Danielle sighed again and stood up.

"I'm going to go get dressed now. You better be ready when I get back," she said, pointing at Ian.

She walked upstairs and I asked, "Where are you guys going?"

"Danielle and I are going to go on a motorcycle ride so I can teach her about photography," Ian replied.

"She's actually going to get on a motorcycle?" I chuckled.

"It was the only way Ian said he would teach her," Jamie laughed.

"You are such a dick," I said, looking at Ian.

He shrugged and smiled, "I know."

~

"Let's get this over with, Keaggy," Danielle mumbled, reappearing in the kitchen about 10 minutes later with her camera.

Ian chuckled, taking the last sip of his coffee and stood up from his seat, "See you guys when we get back." Danielle walked over to Jamie and gave him a kiss.

"I love you," he said when she pulled back.

"I love you too," she replied, turning around and walking toward the front door.

"Don't crash, Ian," Nash called after them, smirking.

"Go fuck yourself, Overstreet!" she yelled, not turning around.

"You really are mean to her sometimes," Melanie laughed.

"It's only because I love her," Nash chuckled.

"Well, you love her a little too much," I joked. Nash simply shrugged and Jamie looked at him.

"She's like my sister, Jamie. Quit your worrying," Nash said, rolling his eyes and getting up from the table, heading into the living room.

~

-Ian- (haha, bitches.)

"Put this on," I said, handing one of my helmets to Danielle.

"This is gonna mess up my hair!" she whined.

"Look, in the off chance that I do crash-"

She cut me off and screamed, "Ian!"

"Just put it on, okay?" I laughed, hopping onto my bike. She groaned and put the helmet on, climbing on behind me.

"How long have you been riding motorcycles exactly?" Danielle asked.

"About four years," I chuckled again, shaking my head, "I'm not gonna crash."

"There's a first time for everything," she mumbled.

"Danielle, you're gonna be fine. Just close your eyes, it'll be over before you know it."

"They are closed. It's still not over."

I shook my head again and started the engine, feeling Danielle jump slightly. I pulled out onto the street and she wrapped her arms around my waist tightly, causing me to laugh.

~

About 20 minutes later, we stopped at one of my favorite photography spots near the mountains.

"Is it over?" Danielle asked, still clinging to me.

"Yes," I laughed. She jumped off of my bike and took off her helmet as quickly as she could. "It really wasn't that bad," I said, taking out my own camera from my bag.

"You've been doing this for four years. Shut up," she mumbled, "The faster we get this lesson over with, the faster we can go home, and the faster I never have to get on a motorcycle again."

I simply chuckled, but dropped the subject, "What do you want to take pictures of first?"

"Flowers are pretty," she sighed.

"Well, I guess we should go find some flowers," I replied.

We found a bush of small purple flowers and Danielle rushed over, sitting on the ground in front of them and pulling out her camera. She was taking pictures of the flowers when I decided to pull out my phone and take a picture of her, posting it on Twitter.

@IanKeaggy: Photography lesson today with this pretty little thing. And @MissDanielle137 is here too. :)

The next thing I knew, I got a reply from Danielle.

@MissDanielle137: @IanKeaggy Ahahaha. Fuck you, Keaggy.

I laughed loudly, causing Danielle to laugh as well.

"I love you too," I chuckled sarcastically.

"I know," she winked.

~

After another hour of taking random pictures, sometimes of each other and posting them on Twitter, we decided to stop for lunch before heading home.

"So what happened yesterday?" I asked Danielle after our food was brought to us. I could tell she got slightly uncomfortable, so I added, "I know you don't want to talk about it, but I also know talking about it would help."

"Nothing. Jamie told you everything," she shrugged.

"Danielle."

"What?! He did!"

"So you're saying you hit her because she tried to tell Jamie you were cheating on him? Not because she called you a bitch or ugly?"

She shrugged again, "When you become so used to being called things like that, it doesn't really bother you as much."

"You know we're not lying when we call you beautiful, right? And I can guarantee Jamie's not," I said after a couple minutes of silence.

She just shrugged again and mumbled, "I guess so."

"Then what makes you doubt it?"

She sighed, "Of course he says I'm beautiful now – he's my boyfriend, he has to. But what about if we ever break up? Then he starts saying I'm ugly and how he only dated me because he felt sorry since no one would actually want to date someone who looked like me. I can't let myself believe him because the last time I believed it, it blew up in my face and I don't think I can handle that happening again."

"He's not lying. He would never lie about something like that. He would never lie to you at all," I said quietly.

"How do you know?" she choked.

"Look at that ring on your finger," I said, a little more loudly. She looked at the ring Jamie gave her as I continued, "That's how I know – that's how we all know. He's not going to intentionally cause you any pain, and if he does, I'll kick his ass. I can tell he'd rather be alone if he can't be with you. He loves you more than anything and we all know you feel the same about him."

"Can we just go home now?" she choked again, not looking up from her ring.

"Sure, come on," I replied, leaving enough money on the table to pay for the food and a tip. I grabbed her hand, pulling her up, and we left.

~

-Jamie-

I heard Ian's motorcycle engine cut off and he walked through the front door a couple minutes later with Danielle on his back.

"Have fun?" Ryan chuckled. Danielle immediately jumped off of Ian's back, quickly walking over to me and hugging me tightly.

"I love you, Jamie," she mumbled quietly into my shoulder. I wrapped my arms around her waist and looked at Ian questioningly.

"We talked about it," he mouthed. I nodded and hugged her back tighter, pulling her close to me.

"I love you more," I said lowly in her ear.

"So, what did you guys do while we were gone?" Ian asked.

"Mel totally kicked Nash's ass in Call of Duty!" Ryan exclaimed proudly.

"She did not!" Nash yelled. "I just wasn't focused!"

"We can pretend that's what happened, but really, I just straight-up kicked his ass," Melanie smiled, looking over at Ian.

"Jamie, help," Nash whined.

"Bro, she owned you so bad," I laughed, still holding Danielle.

"Anyway," Nash sighed, changing the subject, "Good to see you didn't crash, Ian."

Danielle let go of me and narrowed her eyes at Nash, "I will cut you."

"I'm sure it wasn't that bad," I laughed lightly.

"I don't know, man. The girl had her arms wrapped around me so tightly, I could barely breathe," Ian chuckled.

"And if any of you ever make me get on one of those again," Danielle said, pointing at all of us, "I will end your life faster than it began."

"Alright, touchy. Calm down," Melanie giggled.

"We did take some pretty awesome photos though," Ian said, trying to lighten the mood.

Danielle smiled, "We did, huh?" We all sat on the couch as they showed us the photos on their cameras and everyone started commenting on how good they looked.

"This one's my favorite," I said, pulling my phone out of my pocket and handing it to Melanie, who was sitting beside me.

She passed it to Ryan and as it went around the room, they looked at Danielle with grins on their faces. She raised her eyebrows at me in confusion. Nash poked her arm and held out my phone to her. She turned to him and took the phone, looking down at the screen to see the first photo of herself that Ian took while she was sitting on the ground taking pictures I had set as my lock screen. I noticed that as she was looking at the photo, she was fighting back a smile.

"I think the girl in the picture is much prettier in person though," I shrugged. As soon as Danielle looked up at me, I leaned in and kissed her. I felt her smile before I pulled away and her face was starting to turn a light red. I rested my forehead against hers and said quietly, "And she always will be." She rolled her eyes and smiled, kissing me again.

~

Title: "If You Wanted A Song Written About You, All You Had To Do Was Ask" by Mayday Parade


	31. The City Comes Alive when We're Together

-Danielle-

I woke up the next morning and looked at the clock, wondering why the hell I woke up at 7am. I carefully got out of bed, making sure I didn't wake Jamie up.

"What are you doing up?" Ian asked from his seat at the table as I walked into the kitchen.

I jumped slightly, "Ian, don't do that!"

He chuckled, "Sorry, but seriously. You're just usually the last one up." I walked over to the cabinet, grabbing a small glass, then to the fridge and poured myself some orange juice.

"Don't know. I could ask you the same thing," I replied. He simply shrugged and took a sip of his coffee. "What's up, Keaggy?" I asked, sitting down next to him.

"Nothing," he said.

"I've told that lie too many times," I stated bluntly, "I talked to you yesterday – you're talking to me now. What's going on?"

He sighed, "I just miss Maggie is all."

"We all do, but you'll see her sooner than you think," I said, trying to hide my smirk.

"How do you know?" he asked, looking up at me.

"Because I know the feeling of being away from someone you love more than anything for long periods of time," I replied.

"Right," he trailed off.

"Trust me, Ian. You'll be together before you know it," I smiled, patting his shoulder and standing up, walking back to my room.

"I heard you talking to Ian," Jamie said when I closed our bedroom door.

I jumped again, "What the fuck is with you people scaring me today?!" He simply laughed as I laid back down next to him.

He wrapped his arms around me and said, "You didn't tell him, did you?"

"Your lack of faith in me is concerning," I replied sarcastically.

"I'm just saying, you know how you like to talk," he chuckled.

"I also know how to keep a secret. Ian Keaggy has absolutely no idea that Maggie Eckford will be at your concert tonight, Jamie Follese," I smiled innocently at him.

He laughed, "Thank you for the clarification, Danielle Myers."

"You're welcome," I giggled before cuddling against him. "You're warm," I mumbled into his chest.

I felt him chuckled, "You know what else is warm?"

"What?"

"Coffee."

I looked up at him and rolled my eyes, "Way to kill the moment, Jaim."

I got up and Jamie grabbed my hand, "Where are you going?"

"Making you coffee," I replied, sticking my tongue out at him. He pulled my arm, causing me to fall back and land on him.

"I don't want coffee," he said.

"Well, what do you want?" I asked, rolling my eyes.

"You," he whispered. I could feel my face getting red as I softly kissed him.

"You need coffee for the day we're about to have," I giggled, poking his nose, and getting off of him.

"Oh, really?" he smirked.

"Yup! It's gonna be a long day, baby," I turned around and winked at him before I left the room. I heard him laugh, making me smile to myself as I walked back into the kitchen to make our coffee.

~

*That night at the concert*

"Do you think he's ready for this?" Melanie giggled as her, Maggie, and I watched the guys performing onstage where they couldn't see us.

"I don't think he's ready for this," I smiled.

"I think he may be partially ready for this," Maggie laughed. We all looked at each other and busted out laughed. "You're right, he's so not ready for this," Maggie chuckled.

"Thank you guys for having us here tonight!" Ryan yelled into his mic as the crowd screamed. Maggie stayed where we were to wait for the signal and Melanie and I walked over to the guys as they ran backstage.

"Jamie!" I yelled happily, jumping on him and throwing my arms around his neck.

"You seem oddly happy," Ian said, giving me a weird look.

I shrugged and smiled at him, "It's just a happy day today."

We all smiled at him and he said, "Okay, seriously. What's going on? You're all acting weird."

"Well," Melanie started, "We know your birthday was last month..."

"And we didn't get you anything too crazy," Jamie continued.

"But we figured this might make up for it," Nash finished.

"What are you-" Ian started, but was cut off by Maggie as she walked over to us.

"I've got a present here for an Ian Keaggy," she announced. He looked at her with shock written all over his face, then quickly smiled as widely as he possibly could and kissed her.

They both grinned when they pulled away and Ian looked at the rest of us, "When did you... HOW did you..."

"Don't worry about how – just know we did," Ryan smiled.

"We should probably head home," Melanie hinted.

"But we always go out after shows," Ryan said.

"Not tonight, loverboy! We've got a surprise for all of you," I exclaimed, grabbing Jamie's hand and running outside. Everyone else followed and soon enough, we were all back home.

"You guys stay in the living room until we call for you, got it?" Maggie smiled as the guys sat down on the couch.

"Why?" Nash whined.

"Because if you don't, you won't get your surprise," Melanie chuckled.

"But-"

"No. You're staying in here," I said, skipping into the kitchen.

~

About 45 minutes later, Maggie, Melanie, and I were done cooking and had set the table.

"We're done! Get your pretty little faces in here!" I yelled. Ryan, Jamie, Nash, and Ian all smiled when they walked into the room.

"So what was all this for?" Ryan asked when we were done eating, wrapping his arm around Melanie's shoulders.

"Just think of it as the one year anniversary dinner," she smiled at him.

"And our 'just because' dinner," Maggie laughed, looking at Ian.

"And my 'this is really awkward' dinner," Nash mumbled.

"Oh, you didn't think we forgot about you, did you, Nashy?" I smiled, standing up and coming back to the table with a plate of cookies.

His face instantly lit up, "Cookies!" Everyone laughed as he nearly jumped over the table. I pulled back the plate and he pouted, "Hey!"

"Take off my arm and not getting any cookies will be the least of your worries," I warned, pointing at him with my free hand. He sat back down in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. I rolled my eyes and laughed, setting the plate on the table, "Here, baby. Stop whining." He grinned and grabbed a cookie, as did everyone else. "Hey, you guys are going to Australia next month, aren't you?" I asked.

"We all are, yeah," Ryan chuckled.

"Okay, thanks."

"Why?" Nash asked.

I shrugged, "No reason. Just wondering."

"We know better than that, missy. You've got something up your sleeve," Ian laughed, holding his cookie up at me.

I put my hands up, "I have absolutely no idea what you mean by that."

"We should probably all be worried," Jamie added.

"If I did have something up my sleeve – which, as I said before, I totally don't – it would only involve the person in this room who is currently single," I shrugged again.

Everyone looked at Nash as he laughed nervously, "What about the only single person in this room?"

I stood up from my chair and yawned dramatically, looking at my wrist, "Would you look at the time! Well, looks like I should be going to bed. It was fun actually eating a home cooked dinner with you all. Goodnight!" I rushed out of the room, leaving everyone else wondering what I had planned.

~

Title: "For Baltimore" by All Time Low


	32. Take a Breath and Let the Rest Come Easy

-Danielle-

"I'm still not telling you," I rolled my eyes as Nash bugged me about what I meant at dinner. He's been doing this for the past month, obviously not taking the hint that I'm not going to tell him.

"Please," he whined, following me around my bedroom as I was packing some last minute things for the trip to Australia.

"Okay, I'll tell you."

"Really?" he asked excitedly.

"No!" I said loudly, looking at him. We turned toward the door when we heard someone laugh.

"Nash, leave her alone. She's not going to tell you," Jamie smiled, leaning against the door frame.

"But she-"

"No," Jamie cut him off, shaking his head. Nash looked at me and I shrugged, causing him to sigh and drag his feet toward the door.

"I love you, Nashy!" I called after him as he walked out the door. He mumbled some not-so-nice names, making me laugh.

"So," Jamie said, coming up behind me and wrapping his arms around my waist, "What do you have planned for him?"

I turned around in his arms, wrapping my own around his neck and smiling, "Just because you're my boyfriend doesn't mean I'm going to tell you. I'm sworn to secrecy."

"Not even if I did this?" he asked, kissing me.

"Nope," I giggled when he pulled away, "And no amount of kisses are going to work."

"Oh, really?" he smirked before starting to tickle me.

"Jamie!" I screamed in between laughs.

"Knock, knock," Melanie said from outside the door.

"It's open, you know," I laughed again, catching my breath.

"I know," she replied, walking in, "I didn't want to just walk in if you two were taking the first line of I Like It Like That a little too seriously."

"Mel!" I yelled.

She simply smirked before walking away and calling after us, "We leave in 10 minutes. Finish whatever you're doing by then."

"Melanie!" I yelled again. Melanie laughed loudly and I turned back to my suitcase, mumbling, "I am so getting her back for that." Jamie chuckled and wrapped his arms around my waist from behind again.

"You want it and you know it," he smirked.

"Oh, I want it bad," I replied, sticking my tongue out at him before kissing his cheek, "Now help me close this thing." He laughed lightly as I jumped up to sit on my suitcase.

"You sure you need this much stuff?" Jamie asked jokingly as he zipped it.

"I bet it's less than what your brother's bringing," I smiled.

He nodded and laughed, "That's probably true."

~

When we got to the airport and passed through security, we were walking toward the gate and Jamie suddenly said, "I forgot something!"

"What this time?" Ian chuckled.

"My carry-on!" he replied, picking me up.

"Jamie!" I squeaked before laughing hysterically.

Ryan looked at Melanie and she giggled, "Don't even think about it, Follese." We noticed the woman standing at the gate was smiling at us.

"You two remind me of my husband and I when we were your age," she said when we got to her.

"How long have you been married?" Maggie asked.

"47 years next month," she answered instantly.

"That's so cute," Melanie gushed.

"How do you stay with the same person that long and not get tired of them?" Nash wondered out loud.

"Dude!" Ryan exclaimed. Nash frowned and the woman simply laughed.

"Being in love helps," she replied.

The last call for our flight was announced over the PA system and Ian said, "We better hurry before we miss our flight."

"Listen," Jamie said to the woman as we all gave her our tickets, then looked at me, "I don't want to be rude or anything, but if this gets damaged during the flight, we're gonna have some issues."

"Shut up, Jamie," I laughed, playfully hitting his cheek.

"I'll make sure nothing happens," she smiled back. We started walking back and we heard the woman call after us, "Don't let him get away from you!"

I looked at Jamie and said quietly, "I don't plan on it." He smiled and I kissed his cheek.

"You can put me down now," I giggled as he carried me onto the plane.

"Nope," he smirked. One of the flight attendants looked up from her work, giving him a strange look and he simply said, "She's my carry-on." The flight attendant chuckled a bit and went back to whatever she was doing. He sat down beside the window, putting me in his lap.

"Legally, I don't think we're allowed to do that," I laughed as I stood up only to plop down onto the seat next to him. He pouted and I messed with his hair a bit, "You poor thing." I looked up and noticed Nash was about to pass us, so I grabbed his arm. "Nashy!" I squeaked, pulling him down onto the seat beside mine.

"What if I wanted to sit next to Melanie and Ryan or Ian and Maggie?" he asked.

"But you're my pillow," I pouted.

"Please don't," he whined. I stuck out my bottom lip and he sighed, getting comfortable, "I hate it when you do that."

"I know," I giggled before laying my head on his shoulder and falling asleep.

~

A while later, I woke up to the sounds of Jamie and Nash arguing quietly.

"Well, I'm not gonna wake her up!" Nash whispered.

"I'm not doing it! It hurts!" Jamie shot back.

"Did either of you ever consider maybe just carrying her off of the plane?" I heard Ian ask. Jamie and Nash both whispered "Oh..." in unison and I tried not to smile.

When we got to baggage claim, I finally opened my eyes and Jamie said, "Well, look who finally decided to wake up."

He put me down and I shrugged, "I've been awake for the past 5 minutes. I just wanted someone to carry me." He looked at me for a moment before smiling and grabbing my waist as we all walked outside. We climbed into the car and I pulled out my phone, getting on Twitter and tweeting someone.

"Who are you tweeting?" Ryan asked, looking over my shoulder.

I hid my phone, "Don't worry about, Follese."

"We're onto you," Melanie smiled.

"The only one that should be concerned is Nashy," I shrugged.

"Seriously, what are you doing?!" Nash exclaimed as we pulled into the parking lot of the hotel we were staying at.

"You'll see in about 2 minutes," I replied, jumping out of the car before they could ask any more questions. We all walked in and I immediately started looking around.

"What are you looking for?" Maggie asked.

I instantly found who I was searching for and yelled, "Amy!"

She turned around and smiled, "Danielle!" I ran over to her and gave her a hug, which she gladly returned. "I can't believe you're actually here!" she squealed in excitement.

The group walked over to us and I motioned toward Amy, "Guys, this is Amy. Amy, you already know who they are."

"You know each other?" Nash said, slightly shocked.

I rolled my eyes, "I know I'm with you guys basically 24/7, but do you really not pay attention to my Twitter anymore?" Everyone just looked at me and I sighed, "I only tweet her all the time."

"Wait," Nash said, "You're the Amy Danielle always talks about?"

"The one and only," Amy giggled. She handed me the key to our room and said, "Room 336. Try not to love me too much."

"Thanks, babe," I winked jokingly at her and she laughed loudly. "Oh, and before I forget," I said. I grabbed Nash's hand and pulled him over to Amy, looking at them and winking again, "Thank me later." I could have sworn I saw Nash smile slightly as I turned toward Amy, "Just bring him up when you're done doing whatever. He can forget about his curfew tonight."

She laughed and nodded as I grabbed Nash's suitcase along with my own and the rest of us walked to the elevator. We got up to the room and everyone was in shock. (A/N: Let's just pretend it's like the room from The Hangover.)

"This is insane," Ryan said.

"Can we even afford this?" Ian asked.

"No worries," I smiled, "Amy's parents own the hotel, so she hooked us up."

"Why didn't you say anything before?" Melanie asked, still looking around.

"It's my plan, and if any of you tell Nashy what I'm about to tell you, I'll murder you in your sleep, deal?"

"Deal," they all replied at the same time.

"Well, we all know Nashy's sick of all the couple stuff, so I thought I'd give him a little help," I said.

"Who are you setting him up with?" Ryan asked.

I looked at him with a baffled expression, "Ry, what member of the band is not in this room right now?"

"Nash," he replied.

"And who did we just meet?"

"Amy." I gave him a look and he exclaimed, "Oh! They look cute together."

I turned to Melanie, "I worry about your boyfriend sometimes."

"Yeah, you're telling me," she joked. Everyone laughed and we all picked what bedrooms we would be sleeping in.

~

By the time we came out from unpacking, Amy and Nash had returned.

"Hey, didn't expect you back so early," I teased.

"There really isn't much to do. It is 4am, you know," Amy laughed.

"Well, my bad. My internal clock hasn't switched over yet," I said, sticking my tongue out at her.

She gladly returned the favor as Ian said, "I guess we should at least try and get some sleep."

"Yup, rest up! I'm giving you guys a tour of the city tomorrow," Amy smiled.

As Jamie and I walked to our bedroom, I heard Nash ask quietly, "So, um... Do you think you'd maybe want to, you know, stay with us or something?"

I could hear Amy's smile, "Yeah, sure. I'm just gonna go let my parents know and I'll be right back!"

"You know," I said to Jamie as I climbed under the covers, "If this whole job as a merch girl doesn't work out, I could become a love doctor."

Jamie laughed, "Yeah, alright, babe."

"Hey, I was the one that got Melanie and Ryan together."

"Yeah, with my help!" Jamie chuckled.

"Who was the one that gave you Mel's number so Ry could call her?" I asked. He was silent and I smiled, "Exactly!"

Jamie shook his head, but smiled and kissed me, "Goodnight, weirdo."

"Good morning, baby," I replied, sticking my tongue out at him. I kissed him again and laid my head on his chest, falling asleep almost instantly.

~

Title: "Dear Maria, Count Me In" by All Time Low


	33. I'm Falling in Love, but It's Falling Apart

-Danielle-

"This is a sidewalk, that's a tree..."

Amy kept going on before I interrupted her, "Babe, we know what sidewalks, trees, birds, and rocks look like. Believe it or not, we actually do have those things back in Nashville."

"Do you really?!" she yelled with a fake shocked expression.

"Yeah, and for someone who's moving there soon, I would think you'd know that," I replied, sticking my tongue out at her.

"You're moving to Nashville?" Nash asked Amy.

"Yup," Amy smiled, "Moving there in spring!"

~

We ended up back outside the hotel about 3 hours later.

"Who wants to go shopping?" I yelled excitedly.

"Babe, we've been shopping all day," Jamie groaned.

"Yeah, and my feet are killing me," Melanie whined.

I sighed, "Ryan?"

"Sorry, I'm all shopped out," he chuckled.

I looked at Ian and he shook his head, "Maggie and I are going out to lunch."

"I'll go," Nash shrugged.

"I'll go too. Someone needs to make sure you don't cause too much trouble," Amy winked at me.

I put my hand over my heart, "I am mildly offended by that statement!" She gave me a look and I threw my hands up, "Just because it's true doesn't mean I'm not offended."

I kissed Jamie before linking my arms with Nash's and Amy's and heading off for more shopping. Nash and I were looking around some store while Amy was trying things on.

"When are you gonna ask her out?" I asked, nudging Nash with my elbow.

"What makes you think I'm going to ask her out?" he grinned slightly, not looking at me.

"I see that look you give her. You like her," I teased.

"That doesn't mean she likes me back," he mumbled.

"You really don't pay attention to my Twitter, do you?"

"Should I?"

"If you did, you'd know my plan."

"And what plan would that be?"

"To get you to ask Amy out," I shrugged, picking up a necklace and looking at it.

"Why?"

"Because you're obviously tired of the couple things and you lack interest in any girls at shows and stuff, so why not her. Besides, she's been crushing on you forever and when she found out I started dating Jamie, let's just say she was set on getting me to set you two up if we ever met." He tried to hide his smile, but it didn't work. "That's the thing I'm talking about! You smile every time someone even says her name. It's the same way you looked at-"

Nash cut me off, "Please don't bring her up."

"Sorry, but it is, and I think you two would be happy together."

He sighed, "I just don't want it to end up like last time."

"Babe, that girl was a bitch and believe me when I say not one of us liked her. She wasn't right for you. You can do so much better," I said, throwing my arm around his waist, "Let's go check on your future girlfriend." We went over to where we last saw Amy. "Amy!" I called out.

"Yeah?" she called back in the same tone, walking out of the dressing room.

"Just making sure you didn't die."

"Oh, ha, ha, ha. Aren't you just adorable?"

"I know I am. You're not too bad looking yourself," I winked, "Oh, my! Would you look at the time! I should be heading back to the hotel. You guys hang out, do whatever, and I'll see you later. Bye!" I ran off in the direction of the hotel, hoping Nash would take my advice and ask Amy out.

-Nash-

"Does she always act that weird?" Amy asked as we watched Danielle run away.

"Yeah..." I trailed off.

"So what do you want to do?" she asked.

"We can go get some lunch," I suggested.

"Sounds good to me," she replied and we started walking toward a little cafe.

"Tell me about yourself," I said as we sat down.

"Well," she started, "What do you want to know?"

"Anything and everything," I smiled.

She thought for a moment before speaking again, "Alright. I'm nineteen. I have bright blue eyes and red-brown hair, but you could probably already tell," she giggled before continuing, "I can speak two languages. I like books, beaches, coffee, music, bonfires, skateboarding, parties, jumping in pools at random hours of the night, shopping, watching movies, blogging, writing my feelings on paint cards and sticking them on walls, tweeting, cinnamon, grilled cheese and avocado sandwiches, road trips, ice skating, Reese's, captain crunch, slapping people in the face who piss me off, photography, traveling, and Disney."

She took a deep breath and I stared at her, "You realize you just said all of that without breathing, right?"

She simply giggled again, "Sorry. I like to talk and sometimes, I just go on and on, so feel free to stop me anytime."

"Oh, no. It's okay. I like hearing you talk," I smirked.

"I know, it's the accent. It's so sexy, you can't contain yourself," she winked.

I laughed and stood up, "We should probably get back to the hotel." She nodded, standing up as well, and we made our journey back to the hotel. "So, um, I want to ask you something, Amy," I said, suddenly getting nervous.

"Yes, Nash?" she smiled.

"I know we just met and everything, but would you maybe want to, uh, be my girlfriend?" I asked, not looking over at her.

She laughed lightly, then kissed my cheek, "Of course I would." I smiled, finally looking up at her and grabbed her hand, interlocking our fingers as we walked into the hotel lobby. Amy and I walked to the elevator and went to our room.

When we reached the door, we could hear loud voices coming from inside. We gave each other a look before opening the door to find Jamie and Danielle arguing. They hadn't noticed we walked in, and we know it's wrong to eavesdrop, but we were curious.

"You have no right to tell me who I can and can't hang out with!" Danielle shouted.

"I'm not saying you can't hang out with him, I'm saying I think it would be better if you just didn't tell him you love him all the time!" Jamie replied, just as loud.

"He is my best friend, Jamie! There is nothing going on between us! Why are you acting so jealous?"

"You seem to flirt with him a lot. Everyone can see it," he shrugged.

"Flirting?" she laughed loudly, "You think I'm flirting with him? He is like my brother, Jamie! I would never, ever, ever cheat on you!" She paused and then said more quietly, "But I guess you don't trust me enough to know that." She took a deep breath and let it out before reaching behind her neck and taking off her necklace.

Jamie looked at her and whispered, "Please don't." Danielle shook her head as she took off her ring. She took his hand and placed the necklace and ring in it, then closed his fingers on them.

"I love you," she choked, "But I guess you just need time to think about us, so I'm gonna let you do that." He opened his mouth to say something, but she shook her head again and kissed him before saying, "Goodbye, Jamie." She gave him a small smile and walked out the door, not looking back.

~

Title: "Into Your Arms" by The Maine


	34. Just Say You Love Me and I'll Say I'm Sorry

-Nash-

"Dude, what the hell was that about?!" I yelled, fully walking into the room. Jamie didn't say a word. He just sat down on the couch, looking at the necklace and ring in his hand.

"I fucked up," Jamie said quietly, more to himself than me and Amy.

"Yeah, you did fuck up! Do you honestly think she'd cheat on you?! And even if she would, do you really think she'd wait a year to try anything?! That girl loves you more than anything and you think she would just throw that all away?!" I just kept yelling; I couldn't stop. Danielle is like my sister and hearing the hurt in her voice before she left absolutely killed me. When Ian, Maggie, and Melanie walked into the room, they could tell something wasn't right.

"What's going on? We just saw Danielle run out of the hotel and it looked like she was crying," Maggie said, her voice full of worry.

"Where's Ryan?" I asked, noticing he wasn't with them.

"He went after Danielle," Melanie answered, "What the hell happened?"

"She broke up with me," Jamie replied quietly.

"What do you mean she broke up with you?!" Melanie yelled slightly.

"She didn't break up with him," I said, "She's just giving him time to think about things."

"She did break up with me, Nash!" Jamie yelled, then held out his hand to show the necklace and ring, "If she didn't, she wouldn't have given these back to me!"

"She gave them back?" Ian asked softly.

Jamie sighed, resting his head in his hands for a moment before standing up and walking toward his bedroom, mumbling, "I'm going to bed."

"You can't just go to bed!" Melanie said, annoyed, "You have to go get Danielle back!"

Jamie spun around, "I can't get her back, Mel! She doesn't want me anymore! It's done! We're done," he whispered before he walked into his room, shutting and locking the door behind him.

"Is anyone gonna tell us what happened?" Ian asked in an annoyed tone.

"From what we heard, Jamie told Danielle that he didn't want her hanging out with Nash as much because he thinks she flirts with him all the time," Amy spoke.

"So she gave him the necklace and ring back, telling him he needed to think about them, then she left," I said.

"Great," Melanie muttered before walking into the little kitchen we had in our room.

-Ryan-

By the time I had finally caught up to Danielle, I saw that she was being bothered by some guy. As I got closer to them, I could tell he was drunk.

"Come on, sexy. I know you want me," he slurred.

"Um, I think I'll pass," she said, trying to avoid him getting too close to her. He reached for her arm as I was walking up.

"I believe the lady said no," I stated firmly. Danielle let out a relieved sigh and rushed over to me, hugging my arm.

"You her boyfriend?" the guy asked, trying to stand still.

"No, but I know who she is dating, and he wouldn't like you messing with her either," I replied. He luckily wasn't a persistent drunk and just stumbled away from us as we began walking in the opposite direction.

"I'm not dating him anymore," Danielle said quietly.

I immediately stopped walking, "What are you talking about?"

"I'm not dating Jamie anymore," she repeated, a little louder.

"No, I got that. Why? What happened?" I asked, shocked.

"He said I shouldn't hang out with Nash as much and one thing led to another and now, we're not together," she shrugged. I looked down and noticed she wasn't wearing her necklace.

"You're not wearing your-"

She must have noticed I saw because she cut me off, "I'm not wearing my ring either. He needs time to think about us-" She paused. "-I'm not going to stop hanging out with Nash just because he has it set in his mind that I'm going to cheat on him. Can we not talk about this anymore?" She sniffled quietly, probably hoping I wouldn't hear. She shivered slightly as we were walking.

"Only you would wear a dress in this cold weather," I chuckled, putting my jacket on her shoulders and wrapping my arm around her.

"I may or may not have forgotten to check the weather before I got dressed today," she giggled.

"And now we know not to forget," I teased.

"Yeah, I'll forget again. Don't worry," she joked as we walked into the hotel.

When we reached the door to our room, she froze. I grabbed her hand and she looked up at me.

"It'll be okay," I promised her. She nodded slightly, but I could tell she didn't believe it when I saw a tear fall.

-Danielle-

Ryan opened the door and Melanie, Maggie, and Amy instantly looked over at us, rushing over and hugging me.

"Oxygen!" I squeaked.

"Sorry," they all said, letting go of me.

"If it's alright with everyone else, I think I'm just gonna go to bed," I said. I looked at my bedroom door and paused.

When I hesitated, Amy instantly said, "You can sleep in my room."

I looked at her and shook my head, "It's okay, I'll sleep on the couch."

"No," Amy said, reaching into her pocket and pulling out her room key and handing it to me, "My room is directly across the hall. You're staying there and you're gonna like it."

I looked down at the room key, then back up at Amy, hugging her and mumbling, "Thank you."

"Do you need me to go get some clothes for you?" Melanie asked.

"No, it's okay," I took a breath, "I'll go get them." I walked over to my bedroom door and turned the knob, only to find out it was locked. I sighed and leaned my head against the door frame for a few seconds before building up the courage to yell, "Jamie!"

-Jamie-

I heard someone yell my name, but didn't think twice before I yelled back, "Go away! I don't want to talk to any of you!"

"Jamie, please just open the door," they begged. That time, I knew exactly who it was. I jumped up off of my bed and unlocked the door, flinging it open.

"Danielle," I said, surprised.

"I'm not staying," she stated, walking into the room and finding her suitcase.

"Why not?" I asked, watching her.

"If you must know, Amy's letting me sleep in her room," she replied, not looking at me. She pulled out some clothes and closed her suitcase, standing back up and walking toward the door.

"We need to talk," I said, moving in front of her. She almost ran into me, but stopped herself before she did.

"See, the last time you said that, things didn't end too well, so I'm gonna go with no, we don't. We talked earlier. We're done. Goodbye again, Jamie," she replied coldly. She walked out of the room, leaving me standing there completely shocked, but knowing exactly what I had to do to get her back. I opened the door again in time to hear Danielle quietly say, "I really am sorry. I do want go to your concert tomorrow, but I just don't think I can handle it," before leaving the room. I walked out of my room and everyone looked at me.

"I know how to get her back!" I said, but they kept staring at me. "I know I'm not your favorite person right now and I'm sorry I was a dick – especially to you, Nash – but please help me. If I don't get her back, I'll never forgive myself," I choked.

Melanie looked at me for a few moments before saying, "What did you have in mind?"

I sighed, "Thank you," then told them my plan.

~

"If this doesn't work, that girl's sanity will be questioned," Melanie stated when I finished talking.

"I'm not sure who will be more shocked: The crowd or her," Maggie smiled.

"Are you sure you want to do this though, Jaim?" Ryan asked.

"Yeah, man. You never sing in front of anyone but her," Nash added.

I shook my head, "I would do anything for her, and, Nash, I really am sorry. I didn't-"

"If you keep saying you're sorry, I'm gonna take back forgiving you," Nash said.

I nodded and gave him a quick hug before letting go and saying, "We should be getting to bed. Big day tomorrow."

~

-Danielle-

When I woke up the next day, I walked out of Amy's room and into my own, remembering that I had forgotten my toothbrush. I reached the room and saw a note taped to the outside of the door. I took it off and walked in, noticing no one was there. I looked at the clock, seeing it was 3pm and realized they were probably at soundcheck. I groaned, mentally cursing at myself for sleeping in so late. I unfolded the note and read it out loud to myself.

We really hope you change your mind about coming to the show tonight!

I thought for a moment before deciding I would go. Even though Jamie and I aren't together, I knew it wouldn't be right to just stop supporting the band because of it. I quickly sent Melanie a text before getting dressed and heading out to the venue.

-Jamie-

"She's on her way here!" Melanie called to us as we were about to go on stage.

I instantly got butterflies and groaned, "I think I'm gonna be sick."

"You're just nervous, Jaim. You'll do fine. You don't actually pull her on stage until the second to last song. Just don't think about it until then," Melanie said.

"You sure this is gonna work?" I asked nervously.

"She loves you, Jamie. She always has, she always will."

I walked over to her and pulled her into a hug, "Thanks, Mel."

"Don't thank me yet," she said as she pushed me toward the stage, "Now get out there and make us proud!"

I rushed to my seat at my drums as the crowd screamed and we played our first song. When the song was over, Ryan was talking to the crowd and I looked over at Melanie to see Danielle finally standing beside her. We locked eyes for couple seconds before she looked away.

Before I knew it, it was time for the second to last song – my song. Well, the song I was going to sing for Danielle.

"We're going to do something a little different tonight," Ryan said, "I don't know if any of you know this, but Jamie can actually sing and he's going to do that for you right now." I stood up from my seat and walked over to Ryan's microphone as Ian went back to get Danielle.

The crowd cheered, making me laugh as I said, "I'm sure none of you are aware, but yesterday, I made the biggest mistake of my life with the girl I love more than anything in this world, and if it's alright with all of you, I'd like to make it up to her right now." They cheered again as Ian basically drug Danielle out onstage and sat her down on a stool Nash brought out while I was talking. I turned to Danielle and said, "I know that no amount of times I can tell you I'm sorry will change what I did, but I just want you to know that these past 24 hours without you, knowing you hate me have been killing me." She looked at me, then at her hands as I faced the crowd once again, "I know this isn't one of our songs, but it says everything I need to."

Ryan ran out with his guitar and handed it to me, whispering, "Good luck, bro." I nodded and took a breath before I started playing.

There was a new girl in town  
She had it all figured out  
Well, I'll state something rash  
She had the most amazing...smile

I bet you didn't expect that  
She made me change my ways  
With eyes like a sunset, baby  
And legs that went on for days

I'm falling in love, but it's falling apart  
I need to find my way back to the start  
When we were in love, oh, things were better than they are  
Let me back into, into you arms, into your arms

She made her way to the bar  
I tried to talk to her, but she seemed so far  
Out of my league  
I had to find a way to get her next to me

I'm falling in love, but it's falling apart  
I need to find my way back to the start  
When we were in love, oh, things were better than they are  
Let me back into, into your arms, into your arms

Oh, she's slipping away  
I always reach when I'm thinking of words to say  
All the things she does make it seem like love  
If it's just a game, then I like the way that we play

I'm falling in love, but it's falling apart  
I need to find my way back to the start

I'm falling in love, but it's falling apart  
I need to find my way back to the start  
When we were in love, oh, things were better than they are  
Let me back into, into your arms, into your arms  
Into you arms, into your arms

After I played the last chord, I set Ryan's guitar on the ground and knelt down in front of Danielle, finally noticing she was crying. I took her necklace and ring out of my pocket and put them on her, slightly shocked she didn't try to stop me.

"Does this mean you forgive me?" I asked as I finished putting on her necklace and wiped her cheeks.

She sniffled and nodded, wrapping her arms tightly around my neck, making the crowd scream. I wrapped my arms around her just as tightly, pulling her up off of the chair. She jumped up, wrapping her legs around my waist and I carried her backstage.

"We still have one more song," I said as she put her feet back on the ground, "But I'll be back as soon as it's over." She pulled back to look at me and I leaned in and kissed her like it was the last time I would ever get to.

When I backed away from her, she smiled at me and whispered, "I love you, Jamie."

"I love you too," I smiled, "So much."

I gave her another kiss before the guys and I ran back on stage to finish our set with Tonight Tonight. I looked over at Danielle during the second verse and noticed she was singing and dancing along with Melanie, Maggie, and Amy. As Ryan sang 'And it kinda looks just like you', she pointed at me, making me laugh.

"Thanks for having us!" Ryan yelled and the crowd screamed as we ran off stage. I went straight to Danielle, crashing into her, hugging her as tightly as I possibly could again.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled into my shoulder.

I moved back to look at her and asked, "Why are you sorry?"

Her eyes started getting watery again as she said, "If I hadn't overreacted, none of this would-"

"Hey," I said, wiping her face, "I was the one who overreacted. I was wrong to tell you not to spend as much time with Nash. I know you would never cheat on me. I should be sorry, not you."

"But I-" I cut her off by kissing her. When I pulled away, I could tell she was about to protest, so I kissed her again.

"I can do this for the rest of my life," I smirked.

"Who's stopping you?" she smirked back, pulling me in for another kiss.

We pulled apart when Melanie said, "We are. Now, let's go, lovebirds. I want food sometime tonight."

"Love you too, cockblocker," Danielle said, rolling her eyes and smiling.

~

"You should carry me," Danielle stated as we walked down the street to find a restaurant. I chuckled and stopped, letting her jump on my back.

"Better?" I joked.

"Much better," she smiled, kissing my cheek.

At that moment, I realized that nothing could make me happier. Because at that moment, I knew that I just got back the best thing that's ever happened to me, and I intended on never letting her get away again.

~

Title: "Stay" by Mayday Parade  
Song used: "Into Your Arms" by The Maine


	35. Windows Down, Chilling with the Radio On

-Danielle-

"Danielle Nicole Myers! Hurry the hell up!" I heard Ryan yell from outside the bathroom door.

"Ryan Keith Follese!" I yelled as I opened the door, "It's all yours."

I smiled innocently as he covered his ears with his hands, "I kind of need these, you know."

"Then don't rush a girl when she's in the bathroom!" I jokingly gasped before I winked at him.

"Jamie! Your girlfriend winked at me!" Ryan yelled.

"Finally making your move on him?" Jamie chuckled as he walked over to us.

I looked at Ryan, but talked to Jamie, "He hasn't seen nothing yet." I winked again, causing Ryan to retreat into the bathroom and close the door quickly. I laughed as Jamie gave me a kiss, grabbing my hand and walking over to the rest of the group.

"You girls sure you don't want to come with us to soundcheck?" Ian asked.

"Keaggy, soundcheck is so boring, it makes me feel like dying," I groaned.

"Seriously, Ian," Melanie laughed, nodding in agreement.

"Besides, it's girl's day today," Amy smiled, leaning on Nash.

"We'll be back in time for the concert. Stop your worrying," Maggie giggled.

"Who said I was worried? It was just a question. Geesh," Ian sighed dramatically.

Maggie laughed again and kissed him, "We'll see you guys later."

"Ryan! Get your ass out here and kiss your girlfriend goodbye!" I yelled.

"Hold on! I'll be right out!" he yelled back.

"Follese, if you're not out here in 10 seconds, I'm coming in there and you're not gonna like it!"

Ryan walked out of the bathroom and over to us, "Jesus. First you're making a move on me, now you're threatening to hurt me. Make up your mind!"

He reached toward the top of my head and I backed away, "Touch the hair and you die."

He gave me a funny look and Melanie laughed, "Don't act like you're not that way with your hair too."

"Thanks for the backup, babe," Ryan chuckled, kissing his girlfriend.

"I've found out the hard way what happens when you touch her hair after she gets done styling it and, believe me, it's not a pleasant experience," she giggled.

"Alright, ladies. Shopping awaits. Let's get moving," I said, lightly pushing them out the door.

"Hey!" Jamie exclaimed, motioning toward himself, "Forgetting anything?" I shook my head and smiled, trotting back over to Jamie and giving him a kiss.

"Jealousy is a terrible trait, Jamie Christian," I smirked at him before turning around, walking back toward the door.

"But I make it look good, so it's okay, Danielle Nicole!" he called back.

As soon as I stepped out of the doorway, I spun around and stuck my tongue out at him before quickly shutting the door and laughing lightly to myself, sprinting to catch up with Melanie, Maggie, and Amy before they got to the elevator.

-Jamie-

"What if they decided to come to soundcheck instead?" Ryan asked, hitting Ian's arm lightly.

"Which would girls rather do: Shop or go to soundcheck?" Ian chuckled, walking into the kitchen.

"You realize they're going to murder us when we pull them onstage to rap, right?" Nash laughed.

"Seriously, bro. I just got Danielle back. I don't want her to hate me again," I added.

"They're not gonna hate us," Ryan said, rolling his eyes. We all gave him a look and he sighed, "Okay, maybe they will, but it's not like it's going to last forever! They'll get over it!"

"If only it were that easy," I replied, rolling my eyes as we made our way out the door.

~

*Three hours later*

"The party has arrived," Danielle announced as they walked over to us.

"I thought you would have had at least 20 bags with you," Ryan smirked.

Danielle punched his arm, "We dropped them off at the hotel, genius."

"Your girlfriend is abusive, man," he told me, rubbing his arm.

"Believe me, I know," I chuckled. She looked at me for a couple seconds before grabbing my face and kissing me.

"How's that for abusive?" she smirked, walking away.

"Wait!" I yelled after her.

"Nope!" she yelled back.

"What just happened?" I breathed as I watched Danielle sit down.

"Your own girlfriend basically just cockblocked you," Melanie laughed as she, Amy, and Maggie walked over to Danielle.

"I'm gonna get cockblocked again tonight, aren't I?" I asked to no one in particular.

"Big time," Nash laughed, grabbing his guitar.

I groaned, picking up my drumsticks, "I hate you, Ryan."

"I love you too, bro," Ryan chuckled as we ran onstage.

~

About 20 minutes later, we finished Beautiful Freaks and Ryan said, "We know we normally bring fans up for this next song, but we're going to do something a bit different again tonight, if it's okay with you guys." The crowd screamed as Ryan continued, "Cool! We're going to have our lovely girlfriends come out here and do the rap." He motioned for the rest of us to get the girls as the fans screamed again. We ran back and saw Danielle already glaring at us.

"I'm not doing it," Danielle said, crossing her arms.

"Come on, it'll be fun!" Amy said, walking over to Nash.

"I don't know this one and you know that! Who's side are you on?!" Danielle yelled.

"Not yours," Maggie laughed, walking to Ian.

Melanie went to say something, but Danielle cut her off, "Just go. I hate all of you."

"Now if they would just hurry up, we could start this song!" we heard Ryan yell and the fans laugh.

"We'll be right there," I chuckled and Nash and Ian walked onstage with Maggie, Melanie, and Amy.

"I'll make you a deal," Danielle said as I walked over to her.

"And what deal might that be?" I asked.

"I don't rap now, I will rap to Radio, and you might not have to sleep on the couch tonight," she replied.

"I'm okay with that," I leaned in to kiss her and she backed away, pushed on my shoulder, and started pushing me back toward the stage. "I don't at least get one on the cheek?" I laughed.

"Nope," she replied.

"I'll see you for Radio," I smirked.

"Fuck you, Follese," she mumbled before pushing my back, making me stumble onto the stage.

Ryan gave me a look and I threw my hands in the air, "She said she'll do the Radio rap because she doesn't know this one." He shrugged as I walked back to my seat at my drums and Ryan introduced Melanie, Amy, and Maggie. When they were done, we did a few more songs before it was time for Radio.

"As you may have noticed," Ryan said, "One lovely lady didn't come out for I Like It Like That."

"Skip the intro. They already know I didn't come out," Danielle said, walking out with a microphone in her hand.

"And welcome the always charming Danielle, ladies and gentleman," Ryan chuckled. I saw Danielle look at the crowd and she stood on her toes to whisper something in Ryan's ear. He nodded and she brought her mic up to her mouth and pointed at someone.

"You with the sign about it being your birthday, do you know the Radio rap?" she said. The girl nodded and Danielle motioned for her to come up onstage. A couple minutes later, she was standing next to Danielle and Danielle put her arm across the girl's shoulder, "What's your name?"

"Jessica," the girl replied.

"First off, happy birthday," Danielle smiled.

"Thank you," Jessica smiled back.

"Secondly, let's get this song started, pretty boy," Danielle said, looking at Ryan. He looked at her and she smirked, "Do you not remember the song?" The crowd laughed as he gave her a weird look and she started the song, "You know? The one that goes, I stayed up till 5 last night just to say I missed you. Thank God for free wifi and the key to the mini bar-" Nash, Ian, and I started playing, "-We fell asleep on Skype, I almost missed my flight. You know that I need you, I'm out the door. Hasta la vista, a one, two, three, four!" Ryan finally got the picture and came in at the chorus.

When it came time for the rap, Danielle handed Jessica her mic, then ran over and stole Nash's.

"Hey!" he yelled as he laughed and kept playing his guitar. Danielle smiled, sticking her tongue out at him and starting again, walking back across the stage to Jessica as they both rapped.

"Turn me up, turn me up. Ah, ah. Can you hear me? Singing to you clearly even when you ain't near me. Yeah, love through the airwaves. I hope this song's in your hair like hairspray. I heard your friends say I changed, so they hear say. They only say that when they're drunk, so they beer say. Anyway, I wrote you this little song because I wish you were with me. I'm callin' up the station, requesting it in your city, girl." Danielle ran back over to Nash and they finished the rest of the song. The crowd screamed loudly and I could tell Danielle was breathing heavily, but smiling as she walked offstage with Jessica.

~

The guys and I finished the rest of our set and when we ran backstage, we saw all the girls waiting for us.

Danielle screamed and jumped on me, "That was so awesome!"

"You might have just screwed yourself over with that one," Melanie laughed.

"Yeah, they're going to expect you to do that every concert now," Amy giggled.

Danielle just shrugged and Ryan smirked, "We could probably arrange that."

"Ask me tomorrow," Danielle said.

"Why?" Ian laughed.

"Because if I say yes now, it'll just be because of the adrenaline rush, and I don't want to make a stupid decision."

"Don't you make stupid decisions anyway," Amy teased.

Danielle pointed at Amy and said with a straight face, "Was it a stupid decision to get you and Nashy together?"

"No.."

"Then shut the fuck up," she playfully hit Amy's cheek and they stared at each other before bursting into a fit of giggles.

"I worry about you guys," Melanie smiled.

"It's because you love us," Danielle winked.

"Yeah, I don't think it's that," she joked.

"Jamie! Melanie doesn't love me anymore!" Danielle fake cried, laying her head on my chest.

I tried not to laugh as I wrapped my arms around her, "It's okay, babe. I still love you."

She looked up at me, "Do you really?"

I looked at her, a little surprised, and whispered, "Of course I do." I leaned down a bit and kissed her. She sighed when I pulled away, laying her head back on my chest.

Everyone immediately turned away when I looked up at them. At that point, I knew what I had to do. As I hugged her tighter, I decided I was going to make this girl believe she's beautiful, no matter what it took.

~

Title: "I Like It Like That" by Hot Chelle Rae  
Song used: "Radio" by Hot Chelle Rae ft Bei Maejor


	36. Don't You See What You Do to Me?

-Jamie-

I woke up the next morning, chuckling quietly after realizing that Danielle didn't make me sleep on the couch. Danielle's head was on my chest and her arm was laying across my stomach. I kissed the top of her head as I played with her hair, listening to her breathe.

She woke up about 10 minutes later and looked up at me.

I leaned in and kissed her softly, pulling away a few seconds later and whispering, "Happy birthday, beautiful." She gave me a confused look, causing me to laugh, "You forgot your own birthday?"

"I may or may not have misplaced the date in my mind," she said in a sleepy voice.

"What are we doing today, birthday girl?!" Nash loudly announced as he walked into the room, the others trailing behind him.

"Sleeping," Danielle mumbled, burying her face in my neck.

"Come on," Melanie said. "We're in Australia on your birthday!"

"Yeah, there's gotta be something you want to do," Ryan added.

"There is, and that something is sleep," she replied.

"Well, that's not an option," Amy said.

"If I don't get two more hours of sleep, you're going to wish you made it an option," Danielle threatened.

They all looked at each other, then Ian spoke up, "We'll give you two hours and go get some breakfast. You wanna come, Jamie?"

I shook my head, "I'm good. I'll eat something later."

"You sure?" Nash asked. Danielle groaned loudly and turned so her back was facing us.

"We'll see you guys in two hours," Melanie laughed lightly. She grabbed a pillow and covered her face with it as everyone chuckled and walked back out of the room.

"Babe, you're gonna suffocate yourself," I said, taking the pillow away from her. She just shrugged and I grabbed her shoulder, making her lay on her back.

"I'm not suicidal," she rolled her eyes, looking up at the ceiling, knowing what I was about to say.

"You never say anything like that though. You're always smiling and laughing and being so...happy," I said quietly.

"Smiles can hide so many things, Jamie," she replied. I stared at her as she continued, still not looking at me, "It only happened a few days ago. You wouldn't have known even if I wanted you to."

"Why wouldn't you want me to know?"

"I have a reputation for not talking about my feelings, and I don't plan on ruining that reputation any time soon."

"Danielle Nicole, look at me," I said. She still refused to look over, so I put my hand on her cheek and turned her head to make her, "We have been together for over a year. You don't need to worry about your reputation with me. This conversation never leaves this room, got it?"

"Promise?" she whispered.

"Pinky promise," I said, holding my pinky out toward her. She smiled slightly and linked her pinky with mine.

She looked up at the ceiling again and I could tell she was searching for words, "A couple days before we went through... You know... I was Skyping with two of my friends and one of them took a picture and I posted it on Facebook and my ex-boyfriend commented on it."

"Well, what did he say?" I asked, lightly holding her hand. She simply shrugged and I said, "Danielle."

"Fine," she groaned, letting go of my hand and getting off of the bed, walking over to the small desk in our room and grabbing her laptop.

I sat up as she sat back down on our bed and logged onto her Facebook. She moved the computer to my lap before laying back down and closing her eyes. I glanced at her, then back at the laptop and read all the comments.

"You know these aren't true, right?" I asked after a couple minutes of staring at the screen, looking back at Danielle. She shrugged again and I got off of the bed to put her laptop back on the desk before laying back down and facing her, resting my hand on her cheek and talking quietly, "They're not true and they never will be true. He's just pissed because he lost you and he can't get you back. He obviously didn't love you as much as he said he did and no one will ever love you as much as I do." I kissed her forehead and she smiled, then wrinkled her nose when I kissed it. I softly kissed her lips and whispered, "Nothing your ex or anyone says will ever make me think you're not beautiful." She just nodded and laid her head back down on my chest, causing me to sigh. "Is that why you walked out?" I asked suddenly, kind of regretting it.

"Yes," she replied softly.

"Why?"

She looked up at me, biting her lip, "It didn't stop with those comments..."

I raised an eyebrow at her, "What do you mean?"

"His sister messaged me during the time he was doing that." I'm guessing she could tell I was going to ask, because she continued talking before I could say anything, quietly saying, "He told everyone I cheated on him."

"That's why you got mad? Because I thought you would do the same thing to me?" I asked, more to myself than to her.

"She said I wouldn't find anyone like him, and she was right," Danielle said. I felt my heart drop. Maybe she still loved him. Maybe she still wanted to be with him. Danielle looked at me, "Stop over-thinking what I just said. She was right when she said I wouldn't find someone like him because I found someone way better. He never said I was beautiful. He never called me pretty, cute, adorable, gorgeous – anything like that. None of my exes ever did. They never tried so hard to convince me of something like that. They always purposely made me mad. You say I'm beautiful all the time. You try as hard as you can when you know I'll have a hard time believing it. You feel bad even if I pretend to get a little angry at you," she giggled.

I laughed a bit as well, knowing everything was true, "I only do those things because I love you. More than I think you'll ever realize. I don't tell you because I have to; I tell you because it's true."

She rolled her eyes, "Ian told you what we talked about, didn't he?"

I nodded and pulled her on top of me, "Even if we had only seen each other around Nashville and never actually met, I would still think you were the most beautiful girl I've ever seen. Ian already said it, and I'm saying it again-" I grabbed her left hand and held it up, showing her her ring, "-I'd rather live the rest of my life single than be with anyone but you and this just proves it. I never want you to think any differently."

"I know," she whispered. Danielle moved her face closer to mine and was about to kiss me when Amy burst through the door.

"No one come in here! They're having sex!" she yelled.

Danielle groaned and rolled off of me, "It's only been half an hour!"

"But you're still awake, so let's get moving," Amy replied.

"You're a bitch and I hate you," Danielle said, getting up and walking toward the door.

"Fuck you," Amy said sweetly.

"I'd say it was Jamie's job, but you people keep interrupting all the time," Danielle stuck her tongue out at Amy before shutting the door. Danielle sighed walking back over to the bed, "This day cannot get worse."

She was about to lay back down, but I quickly got up and grabbed her waist, keeping her standing, "Nope, we've gotta get dressed."

"But Jamie!" she whined.

I smiled and kissed her, saying in her ear, "No buts. Just get dressed."

"I call first dibs on the bathroom."

"And what if I want it first?"

She grinned, "That's just too bad," before running into the bathroom and closing the door.

I laughed, "That was so not fair!"

"Not my problem!" she yelled back, but I heard her laughing.

I got dressed while I waited and she came out about 5 minutes later.

"It's all yours," she smirked.

"Finally," I joked.

Another 5 minutes passed by the time I walked out. I stopped when I saw Danielle and smiled as I watched her put in her earrings.

"Stop staring at me," she giggled.

"I'm not staring," I said defensively.

"I'm standing in front of a mirror, Jaim. I can see you," she laughed.

"Oh," I trailed off.

"And Keaggy said you would never lie to me," she sighed dramatically.

I walked up behind her, wrapping my arms around her waist, "I guess Keaggy just doesn't know what I'm capable of."

Danielle laughed, "I'm sure."

"Hey, I'm unpredictable!"

"Of course you are, Jamie. I believe you," she joked.

"You just remember that later today," I smirked.

"What's later today?" she asked, looking at me in the mirror.

"You'll see," I sang, walking out of the room.

~

-Danielle-

"Is this really necessary?" I asked as Jamie covered my eyes with his hands.

"Yes, we're almost there and we don't want you to see it yet," I could hear Jamie's smile.

"Am I the only one who finds this weird? One person is covering my eyes, another's holding my arm, and I look like I'm about to raped and murdered by seven people, and no one's stopped us to ask questions."

"You think too much," Nash laughed.

"It's one of my many wonderful qualities," I replied sarcastically.

"Yeah," Melanie giggled, "It's especially wonderful when you think about how cereal could kill you."

"Seriously?" Ian chuckled.

"Yes! I'm at the store, I put a box of Lucky Charms in my cart, walk away for a couple minutes to get something else, someone who has some sort of grudge against me goes to my cart and somehow poisons the cereal and leaves before I get back, I go home, eat a bowl of it, and the next thing I know, y'all find me dead on the couch watching some shitty Lifetime movie," I said casually.

"You're so weird," Amy laughed.

"Not weird, just creative," I stated.

"Aren't they kind of the same thing though?" Maggie smiled.

"We're here," Amy suddenly exclaimed.

"Great! Can you take your hands off my eyes now?" I asked Jamie.

"Nope," he chuckled. We walked inside some building and I immediately felt cold.

"It's cold as fuck in here," I whined.

"You'll live," Ryan laughed.

"What if I get hypothermia and die, Ryan?!" I yelled, "No one told me it would be cold. I'm wearing a dress, for crying out loud!"

"Don't worry, I've got you covered," Jamie said.

"Now can you take your hands off?"

"Jamie, for the love of our sanity, just move your hands," Amy smiled.

Jamie moved his hands and I started laughing, "Yeah, I don't think so."

"Why not?" Melanie groaned.

"You know I can't ice skate! Need I remind you of three winters ago," I said, pointing at her.

Melanie started laughing and Ryan asked, "What happened three winters ago?"

"You don't need to be concerned about that," I cut in before Melanie could respond, "You just need to know that I can't ice skate to save my life."

"Did you really think we were going to bring you to an ice rink without teaching you how to skate?" Jamie asked. When I didn't say anything, he said, "Exactly, and if you want your surprise, you'll do it."

"Will this surprise result in my death?" I asked.

"It might," Ian smirked.

"In a good way," Ryan added quickly.

"Fine," I sighed and we walked over to put on our skates.

As we reached the edge of the ice, I stopped and looked at Jamie, "I swear, if you let me fall.."

"I'm not going to let you fall," he said quietly, "Trust me." I nodded and he kissed my cheek, wrapping his arm tightly around my waist as we got on the ice.

After about 5 minutes, Nash and Amy made their way over to Jamie and I.

"How's it going?" Amy asked.

"Oh, nothing, just haven't fallen yet. You know, no big deal," I shrugged.

"Give it time," Nash smirked.

"Thanks for having faith in me, dick," I laughed.

"Only because it's your birthday, babe," he chuckled as he and Amy skated away.

~

An hour later, we finished skating and had changed back into our shoes, just hanging out and eating when we heard the rink's owner come on speaker, "So word on the street is that it's a couple people's birthday today."

"Oh, dear God, please, no..." I said once I saw the look on Jamie's face.

He shrugged and smiled as the owner continued, "And since they're both here, why don't they come up so we can sing Happy Birthday to them."

"Wait," I furrowed my eyebrows, "Did he say them?" Jamie chuckled evilly and pulled me up in front of everyone.

"And what's your name?" the owner asked.

"You know it's my birthday, but not my name? That seems a little odd," I said. Everyone laughed and Jamie just looked at me. I sighed, "Danielle."

"Well, Danielle, I heard from a very reliable source-"

"That group of idiots," I interrupted, nodding toward Jamie, Ryan, Melanie, Nash, Amy, Ian, and Maggie.

"Yeah," he chuckled before finishing his sentence, "That you like a certain singer."

"I like many singers. Where is this getting at?"

He laughed and said, "She's getting impatient. Just come on out."

I looked over to my left and stood speechless as Demi Lovato walked into the room. I turned back to the group and they just smiled at me. The shocked expression wouldn't leave my face, even as she got to me.

"I know you guys said she was a huge fan, but I was sort of expecting her to be a little more talkative," Demi laughed.

"Give her 5 minutes, you'll wish you never said that," Melanie giggled.

I laughed sarcastically, then seriously said, "Shut up." After everyone in the rink sang Happy Birthday to Demi and I, I got an idea. "Ryan," I held out his name.

"Yes, Danielle. We'll sing Why Don't You Love Me," he chuckled.

"I was actually going to ask you if you wanted the rest of my chips, but I guess that's okay too," I smiled innocently.

"I'm sure you were," he laughed.

Ryan and Demi got up to sing the song, me dramatically lip syncing it to Jamie as he tried not to laugh really hard.

~

As we were getting up to leave a couple hours later, I saw Nash and Amy talking in the corner and could they were about to kiss, so I trotted over.

"Time to leave!" I shouted obnoxiously.

"Fucking cockblock," Amy mumbled, starting to walk toward the door.

"Payback's a bitch and so am I," I smiled, giving her and Nash a thumbs up, skipping back to Jamie.

-Jamie-

When Danielle got back over to me, I grabbed her hand and chuckled, "That wasn't very nice."

"It wasn't very nice when she did it to us this morning either," she replied, sticking her tongue out at me.

"Whoa there, no need to take it out on me. I was cockblocked too, you know," I teased.

"Oh, I know. Two nights in a row must have been tough on you. I mean, why wouldn't you want this?" she joked, pointing at herself.

We got outside and Danielle froze immediately.

"What's wrong?" Nash asked, worried.

"Holy shit," Amy said quietly.

"When the fuck did he get here?!" Danielle whispered.

"Seriously, what's going on?" Ryan asked.

"Ex-boyfriend," Melanie stated.

"...What?" I asked.

"The one we talked about this morning!" Danielle whisper yelled. I just felt angry all of a sudden and started to walk over to him when Danielle pulled me back, "We really can't afford to have this put on your police record. No matter how much I want you to kick his ass, it's not worth it. His face can't get any more fucked up, so why bother trying?" The group snickered at her comment and she simply smiled, "Shut up. It's true and y'all know it."

"Oh, God. It's coming this way," Melanie groaned quietly.

I felt Danielle tense up and I squeezed her hand and whispered, "I'm right here."

She looked at me and nodded before we heard, "Danielle? Is that really you?"

"Unfortunately," she mumbled, forcing a smile.

"How have you been?"

"I've been good... Uh, how about you, Damien?"

"I've been well, thanks for asking," he replied, "You look...beautiful."

She gave him a look and I just snapped, "That's not what you said a few days ago."

"Who are you?" Damien asked angrily.

Danielle lifted our hands up, "He's my boyfriend, dumbass. If you were on Facebook more, you probably would have realized that."

"Well, you blocked me, so I can't exactly know what's going on with you," he shot back.

"I blocked you a few days ago. We've been dating for over a year," she replied, rolling her eyes.

"At least I don't block people who didn't do anything wrong," he said, glaring at her.

"In what world do you think getting an attitude with two of my best friends and calling me 'an ugly, hypocritical bitch who deserves to be single for the rest of her pathetic life' means that you've done nothing wrong?!" she said, her voice getting louder. I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her closer to me so she didn't do anything stupid.

"You only say it's wrong because you can't handle the truth," Damien smirked.

Before I had the chance to say anything, Amy punched him and started to walk down the street back to the hotel. Danielle couldn't hold in her laugh when we saw blood coming out of Damien's nose and covering his lips.

"I like that shade of lipstick on you, Damien. It really compliments the bright red hand print on your face," Danielle smirked.

"Punches don't leave bright red hand prints," he said.

"Really? Well, good thing slaps do," she said before slapping him as hard as she could and walking after Amy.

"Those are my girls," Nash smiled, following Danielle. Ryan, Melanie, Ian, and Maggie all followed.

"Don't you ever talk about my girlfriend like that again," I growled at Damien before sprinting out to catch up with the others.

~

-Nash-

"Why do we always have to avoid playing drinking games?" Amy whined as we were all sitting on the couch back in our hotel room after we had calmed down.

"God, you and Nashy really are perfect for each other," Danielle said, rolling her eyes, "We're not stopping you from playing any drinking games anyway."

"You guys just chose not to play them without us for some reason," Melanie added, "If you really want to play, go ahead, but remember: We're not cleaning anything up."

"And that right there is why we don't play," Ryan chuckled.

"Come on, it's not that bad to clean up," I replied.

"Because you're never the one cleaning anything!" Danielle exclaimed.

"You don't have to clean it, you know," I said, rolling my eyes.

"Yeah, because sober Nash will get right on cleaning whatever shit he makes a mess of, won't he?" she shot back.

"Guys!" Ryan yelled slightly, "Can we not fight about this, please?" Danielle sighed angrily and leaned back on Jamie as he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her cheek. She smiled slightly, then giggled at whatever he whispered in her ear.

"I feel awkward," Amy stated.

"Well, you are awkward, so," I smirked. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door and Danielle hopped up to answer it as I teased Amy about her awkwardness.

"Oh my God. Amy," Danielle groaned before walking back over to us, "Dick's here for you."

"Shit," Amy mumbled, standing up and walking over to the door. At that point, everyone started listening in.

"Can I come in?" we heard a guy asked.

"No, you can't. What the fuck do you want, Lawrence?" Amy replied, obviously not in the mood to see him.

"Babe, don't be like that," he said.

"Do not call me babe," Amy shot at him as I got up.

I walked over to the door and wrapped my arm around her, "Who's your friend?"

"Boyfriend," Lawrence said.

"Ex-boyfriend," Amy growled at him before I could respond.

"We never broke up. We just took a little time off."

"I don't know how 'a little time off' is defined in whatever fucked up world you're living in, but where everyone else is living, three years is not 'a little time off'."

"It has not been three years, Amy," Lawrence replied.

"Maybe it hasn't felt like that to you, considering you've been fucking every girl in the city, but yeah, it's been three years. Goodbye," Amy said.

She went to close the door, but Lawrence stopped it with his foot, "This isn't over, Amy. I will get you back and none of your stupid friends or your little fuck buddy will stop me either."

I was about to say something when Amy just grinned evilly, "He's better than you ever will be." She kicked his shin and slammed the door in his face, locking it. "God, that felt good," she breathed, turning around and walking back over to the group.

I stood there for a moment before quickly making my way over to everyone and sitting next to Amy again. I couldn't really come up with anything to say, so I just wrapped my arms around her and rested my chin on her shoulder.

"So... What was that about?" Ian asked, breaking the silence.

"It's really not that big of a deal," Amy replied.

"It has to be a big deal if it bothers you this much," Maggie said.

Danielle gave Amy a look and shook her head, "If you don't tell them, I will."

"It's not though. He just broke up with me two days after my birthday for no reason through a text," she shrugged. Danielle gave her another look and she sighed, "I might still have a necklace he gave me." Danielle kept giving her the look and Amy said quietly, "And I might still...occasionally...sometimes wear it.." My heart immediately dropped. I know that it can sometimes take a while to get over an ex, but I never knew it could take over three years. At that point, I didn't even care to know.

"I'm gonna go to bed," I said quietly before getting up and walking back to the bedrooms. I heard someone following quickly behind me, so I spun around, just as I got into my room. Amy ran into me, but jumped back.

"Nash," she said softly, closing the door behind her, "I-"

"You still wear things he gave you?!" I said loudly.

"Yes, but-"

"But what? When were you planning on telling me that you were still in love with him, Amy? When?!"

"I didn't think it would matter! I'm sorry!"

"What made you think I would be okay with you still being in love with your ex of three years and finding out you still wear shit he gave you?" I asked, on the verge of tears.

"I thought maybe it would help me get over him somehow," she replied, her voice shaky, tears already starting to fall.

"It won't and you know that," I said quietly, "Every time you look at that necklace, you're going to think about him. You're not doing yourself any good by keeping it around you." She didn't respond, so I kept going, "You're too good for him, Amy. He doesn't deserve you. I've only known this guy for two minutes, but I know he's fucked you over so many times, you don't even bother to keep track anymore, but you keep going back to him because you feel like he's the only person who cares about you."

"How would you know?" she asked, sitting down on our bed.

I sat down next to her, "Because I've been there." She looked up at me with a slightly shocked expression, making me chuckle lightly, "I know, it's hard to believe, but it's true. I met this girl during the video shoot for Honestly and we hit it off. Everything was great for the first few months until I found out she was cheating on me with an extra from the video. I broke up with her, and we were off for a couple weeks, but she came back and apologized. I thought she meant it until it happened again the next week. That went on for a year, but I kept going back to her because, in some weird way, I felt like she was the only person who cared about me, even though she only pretended to. She wasn't the right girl for me, and this guy isn't the right one for you."

"He just made me feel special," she sniffled, "Like I could do anything wrong and he would never get mad at me."

I took her face in my hands and wiped her cheeks with my thumbs, "Amy, I promise I'm never going to hurt you like he did. Just give me a chance to be the right guy for you." She nodded in response and I took a deep breath before leaning toward her, and pressing my lips onto hers.

She smiled and bit her lip when I pulled back, whispering, "Okay, but can we start tomorrow?"

"Why tomorrow?" I chuckled.

"Because I don't feel like putting this up on eBay right now," she shrugged.

"Why would you put them on eBay?"

"They're real diamonds. You think I'm just not gonna sell them? I don't think so!"

"Wow, he really is an idiot."

"Yeah, you're telling me," she giggled.

"Come on," I said, hopping off of the bed, grabbing her hand and pulling Amy up with me, "Let's go see what the others are up to."

We walked out and noticed they were all sitting exactly where we left them, talking about nothing. Everyone stopped talking and turned to stare at us when we took our original spots on the floor against the couch.

"So," I said, "What were you guys talking about?"

"Whatever came to mind," Danielle replied, eyeing Amy carefully.

"Like what?" Amy asked, obviously attempting to ease the tension.

Ryan spoke up, "Like, if someone mentions a pet peeve, it could spark a discussion."

"So if I said one of my pet peeves was when stores don't have enough check-out lanes open so you have to wai-" Amy started before Danielle cut her off.

"Oh my God, I fucking hate that!" she yelled, "Especially when it's a store like Wal-Mart where a shitload of people shop, but do they ever have enough lanes open?! No!" We all laughed at Danielle's over-dramatic explanation before continuing the conversation.

~

Title: "Somewhere in Neverland" by All Time Low


	37. Even the Sun Sets in Paradise

-Danielle-

The next morning, I woke up at 8am, so I decided to go get a cup coffee. I got out of bed, being careful not to wake Jamie up, got dressed and grabbed my bag, my notebook, and a pen, quickly writing a note to everyone before walking to a small cafe down the road from the hotel.

As I was sipping my coffee and doodling in my notebook, I felt a tap on my shoulder.

I turned around and almost choked on my drink, "Damien!"

"Hello again, Danielle," he smiled.

"What do you want?"

"I heard your friend Amy is dating my cousin."

"Nash is your cousin?" I asked, confused.

"Who's Nash?"

"Amy's boyfriend..."

"You guys can pretend they're together all you want, but she's not getting away from me that easily," I heard a voice behind me say.

"Oh, you again," I said, rolling my eyes as I looked at Lawrence. Suddenly, it all clicked. "Wait," I looked at both of them, "You're cousins?"

"Yeah," Damien said, as if it were obvious.

"Well, I should have known since I guess being an asshole runs in the family. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have more important things to be doing like getting ready for tonight's concert or watching my boyfriend's hair grow," I replied, getting up from my seat and starting to walk away.

"Yeah, I don't think so," Damien said, grabbing my arm, "I'm not letting you get away that easily either."

"Let go of me," I growled at him.

"I know things about you, Danielle. Things that will ruin your relationship with your little boyfriend and your life if you don't break up with him first and come back to me."

I laughed bitterly, "And why would I break up with Jamie? You've got nothing against me."

"I know you cheated on him with that Ian kid last month," he said.

"You think I cheated on him... With Ian?" I laughed loudly, "You have gotten funnier since I last saw you."

"Think I'm kidding?" he asked, pulling something out of his pocket with his free hand. He showed me a picture of when Ian grabbed my hand and led me out of the restaurant the day we went out to take pictures.

"That doesn't even look believable," I rolled my eyes, trying not to be bothered by how he could have gotten the picture, "Couples don't hold hands like that."

Damien shrugged, "Doesn't mean Jamie won't believe it."

"Yeah, because he'll totally believe you over me and Ian," I replied sarcastically.

"I also have this," he shrugged, pulling out another picture of Nash kissing the top of my head and hugging me from the night Sarah kissed Jamie when we were in L.A. before we made up. And it looked way more believable.

"How did you get that?" I asked, a little shocked.

"I have my sources," he said smugly.

"And would Nash believe Amy if I showed him this?" Lawrence pulled out a picture of himself and Amy kissing.

"That's gotta be, what, three years old?" I asked, not buying it.

"For all everyone else knows, this could have been taken last week," he smirked.

"You wouldn't dare," I growled.

"Try us," Damien replied, "And if you say anything about this to anyone, your relationship with Jamie won't the only relationship on the line."

He tightened his grip on me and I screamed, "Let go of me!"

"What seems to be the problem here?" we heard Ryan's voice and spun around to see Ryan and Melanie walking up to us.

"Not a word," Damien murmured, letting go of me.

I quickly picked up my things and rushed over behind Ryan. Melanie looked at me and I tried my best to pretend I didn't notice, keeping my attention on Ryan and Damien.

Damien smiled, "Nothing, just chatting with Danielle."

"She didn't really look like she wanted to chat with you. Why don't you just stay away from her, yeah?" Ryan said, his anger becoming more apparent with every word.

"And what if we don't?" Damien smirked. Ryan took a step toward him, but Melanie held him back.

"I guess you'll just have to find out," he replied.

"Well, it was lovely talking with you guys, but we really should be heading back to our room," Melanie said quickly, pulling on Ryan as we walked quickly away from Damien and Lawrence. "What was that about?" Melanie asked when we turned the corner.

"Why were you guys out?" I asked, avoiding her question.

"We woke up and saw your note and thought you would want some company," Ryan said, "What happened back there?"

"Um..." I trailed off.

"I saw how he held your arm," Melanie said, "What happened?"

"Nothing happened. I promise," I said. We got back to the hotel room and I saw everyone sitting on the couch. "Shit," I mumbled, kicking my shoes off and taking off my jacket as they turned to look at Ryan, Melanie, and I.

"Holy shit! Danielle, what happened to your arm?" Jamie asked, running over to me.

I looked down at my arm and saw a bruise where Damien had grabbed me. I knew I had to come up with a quick excuse if I didn't want them to know about what happened.

"I wasn't paying attention and I ran into a door. You know how easily I bruise," I replied, shrugging nervously.

"Danielle," Melanie said.

I sighed, "Or I didn't..."

"Then what did happen?" Nash asked as Jamie pulled me over to the couch, retaking his seat and sitting me in his lap.

"Damien," I mumbled.

"Damien did that to you?" Jamie asked quietly, but his shock was obvious.

I barely nodded and Maggie asked, "Why?" I shrugged again.

"Danielle, he hurt you. Tell us what happened," Ian said sternly.

"I can't tell you," I said quietly, moving to stand up.

Jamie pulled me back down and whispered, "Why not?"

"I have relationships to protect, okay? That's why!" I said, a bit loudly.

"Whose?" Melanie asked.

"Nash and Amy's," I murmured.

"Ours?" Amy asked in a small voice.

I stayed quiet and Ryan asked, "Wait, you said relationships. What other relationship?"

I looked down and replied in a barely audible voice, "Mine."

I felt Jamie let out a breath against my neck as Nash said, "You can tell us. Whatever is going on, we need to know. We're not just going to let you put yourself on the line for us, Danielle."

I looked at Jamie and he leaned in, kissing me softly before pulling away a few seconds later and whispering, "We need to know, babe." I nodded reluctantly, but told them about the pictures and everything.

"He said that if I didn't break up with Jamie and go back to him, he and Lawrence would post those pictures everywhere and ruin our relationships," I finished.

"We'd never believe that though," Ryan said.

I shook my head, "It's not you guys believing it that I'm worried about – it's your fans."

"They wouldn't believe it either," Nash said.

"I don't know, Nash," Ian said hesitantly, "You said it yourself: Our fans do get a little crazy."

"Yeah," Amy jumped in, "You do have the fans who won't believe a word of it, but all it takes is a few jealous fangirls to cause a whole lot of shit."

"Well, why can't we just tell everyone it's not true before it does get to that point?" Jamie asked.

"Amy's right though," I said, "Even fans who don't believe it will go along with it if it means one of you guys becoming single. I mean, look at Melanie and Ryan. They will say anything to get them to break up. The only reason it hasn't happened as often anymore is because they've finally warmed up to her. I'm afraid that with Amy being the newest girlfriend, those crazy fans are now more likely to target her and Nash."

Nash's grip on Amy's hand tighten as he said, "I'm not letting that happen." She blushed lightly and kissed his cheek.

"I'm just saying, Nashy. They haven't gotten used to you actually having a girlfriend," I smiled innocently at him. Amy giggled and Nash rolled his eyes, but smiled as well.

Ian chuckled and shook his head, but then became serious, "He's not getting away with this, Danielle."

"That asshole hurt you twice already. We're not going to let it happen again," Nash agreed.

"It's not that big of a deal, really. I can take care of myself," I shrugged.

"It seemed like a pretty big deal when you screamed at him to let go of you earlier," Ryan said.

"I could've handled it if you hadn't interrupted," I replied, getting slightly frustrated.

"Danielle!" Melanie yelled, "Look at what he did to your arm! I know you bruise easily, but this is serious shit!"

"You don't always need to be the brave one. It's okay to admit when you need help," Maggie added. I looked at Jamie, noticing he hadn't really been saying much, and saw he looked worried.

I leaned my forehead against his, "I'm gonna be fine, Jamie. Stop worrying."

"And what if you won't be?" he let out an aggravated sigh, "What if something happens to you and I'm not there to stop it?"

"Nothing is going to happen to me," I replied, then looked around at everyone, "Nothing."

"Look," Amy said, "I just don't think you should be out alone anymore."

Everyone nodded and I sighed, "If I agree to that, will you stop treating me like a little kid? Melanie is the baby of the group, not me."

Melanie looked at me and yelled, "By four months!"

"You're still the youngest," I replied, sticking my tongue out at her.

"You're still the second youngest out of 8. We've got you beat," Ryan chuckled.

"You all suck and I hate you," I said, crossing my arms over my stomach.

"I lo-" Jamie started before I put my finger on his lips, shaking my head.

"No," I stated. He looked at me with puppy dog eyes and I tried to keep myself from smiling, putting my hand back in my lap, "I hate when you do that."

"You only hate it because it works," he grinned, grabbing my hand and kissing me. I rolled my eyes, but smiled, laying my head on his shoulder.

"He's not touching you again, babe. Not while I'm around," Jamie said, kissing the top of my head.

"So forever?" I asked.

"Forever," he smiled.

~

Title: "Payphone" by Maroon 5


	38. Tell Me We Can Make this Dream Become Real

-Amy-

"Guys!" I called, running after everyone as they were walking to the gate for their flight back to Nashville.

"Amy?" Nash said as he turned around.

"What are you doing here?" Danielle asked looking at my bags, smiling.

"You didn't really think I'd just let you leave Australia without me, did you?" I laughed.

"I thought you said you were moving in the spring," Melanie said.

"I did, but that was when I assumed I would have the money to do it. I found out a couple weeks ago that I have the money now, so why not move early?" I smiled.

"Seriously?" Maggie asked happily.

"Seriously," I giggled.

"I've already been looking at houses and-"

Nash cut me off, "You don't want to live with us?"

I shook my head, "I would love to, but I can't just intrude like that."

"You stayed with us at the hotel," Jamie laughed, "You wouldn't be intruding at all."

"Yeah, we need someone else to help control these idiots anyway," Melanie giggled, pointing at the guys.

I thought for a moment before asking, "Are you sure you don't mind?"

Nash wrapped his arms around me and kissed my forehead, "Of course we don't. My bed would get lonely without you." He winked at me, making me laugh.

"The blowup doll just doesn't do it for him anymore," Ryan teased.

"You would know what that feels like, wouldn't you, Ry?" Danielle smirked.

"Okay! Time to get on the plane!" Ian said loudly, trying not to laugh at Ryan's reaction.

~

-Ian- (whaaaaaaat)

*Two days later*

The girls went grocery shopping, so I decided to take the opportunity to tell the guys my plan for the concert tonight.

"Seriously?! Oh my God, Ian, congratulations!" Ryan, Jamie, and Nash said excitedly, hugging me after I told them I was going to propose to Maggie.

"She hasn't said yes yet, guys," I chuckled.

"But she will," Jamie smiled.

"You know she will too," Nash laughed.

"What if she doesn't though? Like, what if she's not ready to get married?" I asked, the nerves finally hitting me.

Ryan put his hands on my shoulders and looked at me, "Ian, she is in love with you. She will be nothing less than ecstatic."

"How are you going to propose?" Jamie asked.

"That's what I was hoping you guys could help me with. I have an idea," I smiled.

~

After I finished telling the guys my plan, I called Danielle.

"Sup, Keaggy?" she answered after the third ring.

"Are you alone?" I asked.

"No, Amy and Melanie are right here."

"Where's Maggie?"

"Bathroom."

"Good, put me on speaker."

"There are nicer way to ask for things, sir," she replied, smiling.

"Please put me on speaker," I said, laughing.

"You're on. Go."

"I need you guys to keep Maggie out until the concert starts," I said.

"Why?" Melanie asked.

"Just please do it. For me?" I begged.

"We're doing you a favor, boy. We deserve to know," Amy chuckled.

"I'm going to propose t-"

They cut me off, yelling in unison, "Finally!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked, a bit confused.

"We have been waiting for you two to get married for forever!" Danielle replied.

"Whoa, I haven't asked her yet. She might not even say yes..."

"Ian, the girl is head over heels for you. She'd be stupid not to say yes," Melanie said. Danielle and Amy agreed.

"Right. Danielle, is there any way you'd be able to get here while Melanie and Amy keep Maggie busy?" I asked.

"What for?"

"I wanted to know if you'd be interested in photographing this," I offered.

"I'm so in! When do you need me?"

"Right now, if you can."

"On my way," she smiled.

"Cool! We're still at home, so just meet us here."

"Yes, sir," I heard before she hung up.

-Danielle-

"Hey, I gotta get going," I said when Maggie got back to us.

"Aw, why?" Maggie asked.

"Ian wants me to photograph the concert tonight and get some experience to maybe start my own photography business, so he needs me back home for a few last minute things that need to be done," I replied.

Maggie smiled, "Alright. Should we walk back with you?"

"Yes," Melanie and Amy said before I had the chance to say no. I rolled my eyes, but knew it was just better to agree than to argue about it.

"I'll see you at the concert," I waved at them when we reached our front door, watching them walk away before darting into the house. "Designated photographer, at your service!" I announced when I walked through the door.

"Good! You're here!" Ian said excitedly, rushing over to me and pulling me to the couch where the rest of the guys were sitting. He threw me onto the couch in between Nash and Jamie, then sat down himself.

"Damn, Keaggy. I know you're excited, but you don't need to abuse me," I giggled.

"Sorry," he chuckled, "Okay, so, here's the plan..."

~

"If she doesn't say yes, I might have to smack her," I said when Ian finished talking. I then looked at Jamie, Ryan, and Nash, "You guys will never be able to top this. At all." Ian smiled proudly and Jamie stared at me. "What?!" I yelled, "I'm just saying!" He simply shook his head and smiled before kissing my cheek.

"Alright, lovebirds. Let's get to soundcheck," Ryan laughed, standing up and walking toward the door.

"Oh, wait!" I yelled again, running into my bedroom and coming back out with my camera. I ran back over to the door where everyone was waiting and smiled, "Ready!"

We arrived at the stage and noticed a few girls were already waiting in line.

"Hey," Ian said as we walked up to them, "How would you girls like to come to soundcheck?"

They all stared at us and one of them answered, "Uh, yeah!"

They followed us in and I randomly yelled, "Hey, I know you guys!"

"Took you long enough!" they yelled back, laughing.

"What?" Ryan asked, confused.

I smiled and pointed at each person as I introduced them, "Guys, this is Gaby, Reilly, Livy, Carrie, and Lizzie."

"How do you know them?" Nash chuckled.

"She only talks to us on Twitter all the time," Carrie giggled.

"Then you should all know my memory sucks," I laughed again.

"Alright, we'll give you that," Gaby smiled.

"But don't ever let it happen again," Reilly grinned.

"Don't threaten me! I might make you come on stage and rap," I winked jokingly.

"Bring it on!" Livy yelled, sticking her tongue out at me.

"Can we maybe get moving?" Ian chuckled, shaking his head.

"Keaggy, the concert starts in three hours. We've got time," I giggled.

"I know, but we still have to let your friends in on the plan!"

"What plan?" Gaby asked.

"Guess who's going to propose to his girlfriend tonight!" I sang.

They all yelled together, "Jamie!"

"Damn it! Now I have to wait two and a half more years because the surprise was ruined," Jamie yelled dramatically.

I laughed loudly and shoved his shoulder, "Shut up."

"I don't know if I'll believe you if you say it's Ian," Livy laughed.

"Well, get ready to believe it," Ian smiled widely.

Gaby, Reilly, Livy, Lizzie, and Carrie all looked at each other, then at Ian, and yelled, "Finally!"

"Weird. That was the same reaction Danielle, Melanie, and Amy had," Ryan smirked.

"Took you long enough, Ian," Lizzie chuckled as we walked onto the stage.

"So where are you girls sitting?" Ian asked.

"Uh..." Carrie trailed off, looking at her ticket, "5th row."

"Yeah, not anymore," he laughed, "We need you in the front. That is, if you don't mind."

"I suppose that would be okay, but we're only doing this for Maggie," Gaby replied sarcastically.

"I see why you're friends with them, Danielle. They're almost as sarcastic as you are," Nash smirked.

"No one is more sarcastic than I am, babe," I joked.

~

Right as we were about to run onto the stage, Melanie, Amy, and Maggie rushed in.

"Sorry we're late," Maggie said, kissing me, "We got stuck in traffic."

"I've never seen so much road construction in my life," Amy sighed.

"It's alright. I'll see you later," I laughed, giving Maggie another kiss before running onstage.

~

When our set was officially over, we waved to the crowd and Ryan, Nash, and Jamie ran backstage.

"I know we normally play Tonight Tonight last, but I have a surprise for Maggie if she'd come out here," I smiled. I looked over at Maggie – who was obviously confused – as she walked out. I draped my arm over her shoulder, "You look really lost."

"I am..." she replied.

"Good," I chuckled.

Melanie ran out with a stool and had Maggie sit down, smiling widely at her. I looked at Danielle, who gave me a thumbs-up, letting me know she was ready.

"Alright," I addressed the crowd again, "I don't usually do this, but you guys are lucky fans tonight. For the last song, I wanted to do something really special, so this is I Just Want to Love You." The venue erupted into screams, making me laugh. Maggie smiled and looked down as I started playing.

I gave you more than I could give  
It started off bright, and burned till it turned dim  
No, I can never hurt again  
I've come from where I was before to where I am

Oh, I just wanna know how it feels to go from broken to healed  
Tell me we can make this dream become real

I just want to love you, I just want to give you all I have  
I just want to need you, I need you more than I can stand  
I just want to hold you like every minute is my last  
I just want to love you cause life goes by so fast

We're staring at the sky again  
It started to rain, but we're not going in  
We're dancing to the sound of that old juke box  
Singing through the windows from the house around the block

Oh, I had never felt how it feels to go from broken to healed  
But looking at you now, it's all become real

I just want to love you, I just want to give you all I have  
I just want to need you, I need you more than I can stand  
I just want to hold you like every minute is my last  
I just want to love you cause life goes by so fast

And as the minutes turn to hours and the sky lights up like fireworks  
Cause the whole world is surrounded by a flame  
When the world, it keeps on turning and the sky, it keeps on burning  
Cause the whole world is surrounded by a flame  
By a flame, a flame, a flame, a flame

I just want to love you, I just want to give you all I have  
I just want to need you, I need you more than I can stand  
I just want to hold you like every minute is my last  
I just want to love you, I just want to love you  
Cause life goes by so fast

After I sang the last line, I nodded at Gaby, Reilly, Lizzie, Livy, and Carrie and they smiled as widely as they could, holding up their signs. They were each holding a word and together, the signs said 'Maggie, will you marry Ian?' Maggie looked at the girls, shocked. When she turned back to me, I was already on one knee with the ring in my hand.

She covered her mouth as she started crying and I smiled at her, "Maggie Eckford, I love you and I would love nothing more than to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?"

Maggie nodded as quickly as she could and I slipped the ring on her finger. She stared at it for a moment before screaming and jumping on me, wrapping her arms around my neck. I wrapped my arms around her waist just as tightly as the crowd screamed.

I heard Danielle, Melanie, Amy, Nash, Ryan, and Jamie cheer before they ran onstage and threw their arms around us for a group hug. They all let go of us and I squeezed Maggie one more time before moving to look at her. Tears were still streaming down her face, so I lifted my hands up to wipe her cheeks, then kissed her.

She smiled at me and whispered, "I love you so much."

"I love you so much more," I smiled back, kissing her again.

~

Title/song used: "I Just Want To Love You" by Ian Keaggy


	39. Stars Burn Out Like Dreams

-Ian-

The next morning, Maggie and I were already awake, lounging around, waiting for the others to get up. One-by-one, everyone dragged their feet across the floor and into the living room, plopping down onto the couch, Danielle obviously being the last.

"Well, hello there, future Mrs. Ian Sebastian Keaggy!" Danielle announced when she finally walked in, sitting herself on Jamie.

"Hi, Danielle," Maggie giggled.

"So what's on the agenda for today?" Nash asked everyone.

"Date," Danielle said.

"We didn't plan anything for tonight," Jamie said, confused.

"I'm dating someone else," she shrugged.

We all stared at her and Melanie started cracking up, "There's no need to be jealous of me, baby Jamie."

"What?" Ryan asked.

"Your brother's girlfriend and I have a date tonight," Melanie shrugged as well.

"I don't know about him not being jealous, babe. You're pretty damn hot," Danielle winked at Melanie as she got up.

"Where are you going?" Jamie called after her.

"I'm getting dressed, Follese. Calm down. Your jealousy is showing!" Danielle called back.

~

She came back downstairs about 15 minutes later, "I'm ready when you are, Mel."

"I'll go get ready now," Melanie said, hopping up and trotting upstairs.

"You look-"

Jamie started before Danielle cut him off, "Sexy? I know. You can barely contain yourself right now."

Jamie chuckled, "I was going to say beautiful, but that too." He walked over to Danielle and wrapped his arms around her waist.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and smirked, "Don't worry, I don't kiss on the first date."

"But Mel does," Ryan chuckled.

"Mel does what?" Melanie asked, coming back down the stairs.

"L-Look gorgeous," Ryan stuttered.

"And kiss on the first date," Danielle giggled.

"Damn it, Ryan! You ruined the surprise!" Melanie yelled jokingly.

Ryan laughed, walked over to Melanie and kissing her, "Really though, you look gorgeous."

"Hey, man!" Danielle yelled and grabbed Melanie's hand, pulling her toward the door, "Don't be kissing my date!"

"I think payback is acceptable," Melanie smiled. Danielle smirked and trotted back over to Jamie, kissing him.

"I love you," Ryan and Jamie said as Danielle and Melanie left.

"I love you too!" they called back, smiling.

-Danielle-

"So what to do, what to do," Melanie said as we hopped into my car.

"We could go to the movies," I suggested, starting her car.

"What's playing?"

"I guess we'll see when we get there," I laughed, pulling out of the driveway.

~

After the movie was over, I asked, "So where to next?"

"Oh! The mall! I saw these shirts in there the other day that would be perfect for us!" Melanie exclaimed.

I laughed, "Alrighty then. To the mall!"

When I pulled into the mall's parking lot, Melanie practically jumped out. She ran over to my side of the car as I was getting out, grabbed my hand, and pulled me in and through the mall. The next thing I knew, I was being dragged into H&M and Melanie was frantically searching for something.

"What are you looking for?" I laughed.

She rushed over to a rack of clothes and and held up two shirts, "These!"

"Oh my God, those are amazing!" I almost yelled.

"Aren't they though?" she smiled widely.

"We definitely have to buy them," I laughed.

"We should make it a surprise for the guys at the concert tomorrow," she smiled.

"Of course! Now let's get buying!" We bought the shirts, got something at the food court, and then went home.

~

When we walked through the door, Ryan looked over at us and immediately hopped up, "Is that an H&M bag?" He rushed over to us and reached for the bag.

Melanie hit his hand, "Yes, but you're not allowed to see what's in it! You either!" she said, pointing at Jamie.

"Me?" he asked.

"Yup," I smiled, "It's a surprise." Jamie simply shrugged and turned back to the TV, but Ryan kept bugging Melanie.

"Ryan Keith Follese!" she said.

"You're in for it now," I sang, taking the bag from Melanie's hand and trotting upstairs.

~

-Melanie-

A couple hours later, we were all sitting outside on the porch and Ryan was still bugging me.

"Come on, babe! Just a hint!" Ryan begged.

"Ry, if you don't stop, one of us is gonna be sleeping on the couch tonight and it's not gonna be me," I threatened.

"Ooh," the group laughed.

"You wouldn't," Ryan said.

"Ryan, take it from someone who's lived with her for almost two years," Danielle said, "She would."

"But I-"

"Just don't annoy her! It doesn't end well!"

"Jesus! Alright, calm down," Ryan mumbled.

~

The next afternoon, Danielle and I walked over to Ryan and Jamie during soundcheck.

"Hey!" Danielle yelled, making them jump before they turned around.

"What do you think?" I giggled. Ryan and Jamie busted out laughing when they saw our shirts.

"Those are hilarious!" Ryan said.

"Aren't they though?" Danielle smiled. Jamie threw his arm around Danielle's shoulders and kissed her cheek, "They really are."

"No one can resist this, I know," Ryan smirked, kissing me.

"Except for maybe Danielle," I smiled.

"No, she wants it, I can tell."

Danielle laughed, "Ryan! We can't talk about this in front of Jamie!"

Jamie suddenly picked Danielle up, "Sorry, I have to go remind her why she wants me more than she wants my brother."

He walked away and Danielle called back to us, "I love you, guys! Don't ever forget me!" I shook my head and laughed and Ryan turned back to me.

"Do I need to remind you why you want me more than my brother too?" he smirked.

"Oh, please do," I winked.

Ryan was about to kiss me when Nash randomly came out of nowhere, "If you don't mind, we kinda need to do soundcheck. Quit making out and let's go!"

"Don't even act like you and Amy weren't just making out over there," I said, rolling my eyes. He looked at me with a semi-shocked expression, making me smirk, "Yeah, I saw. You weren't exactly making an effort to hide it, you know." Nash walked away – I'm assuming to go find Jamie.

"We'll finish this later," Ryan winked, giving me a quick kiss and walking toward the stage.

I shook my head and laughed as I watched him during soundcheck. During the concert, Ryan brought Danielle and I out onstage to, in his words, 'model our shirts for the fans.' We stayed to do Radio with them, which was now becoming a regular thing for us.

~

After the concert, Nash and Amy went home while the rest of us went out to eat. When we drove back to the house, we could hear yelling as we walked up the walkway to the front door. Suddenly, Nash stormed out of the house.

"You guys go check on Amy. I've got Nash," Danielle said before running after him.

We walked inside and found Amy sitting on the floor in front of the couch, head in her hands and sniffling.

We slowly walked over to her as Ian asked, "So, uh, what happened?"

She quickly wiped her eyes, "Nothing."

"Everyone in this room knows you're lying. What happened?" Jamie said bluntly.

"Where's Danielle?" she asked, obviously avoiding the question.

"She went after Nash. What the hell happened?" Ryan asked. Amy was about to say something when the door swung open.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?!" Danielle shouted, slamming the door behind her.

"Danielle, calm down," Ian said.

"I will not calm down!" she said loudly before turning back to Amy, "I told you to get rid of it!"

"I was going to," Amy said, much quieter compared to Danielle's yelling.

"I told you to get rid of it two weeks ago, Amy! Two weeks! You better have a damn good reason for keeping it this long!"

"What are you talking about?" Maggie asked.

"Do you want to tell them or should I?" Danielle said loudly again.

Amy sighed, "Well, you guys already know about the necklace Lawrence gave me after we broke up as a 'sorry'."

"Yeah, but you sold that already," Ian said.

"I might have forgotten to tell you about the ring," Amy trailed off quietly.

I shook my head, "Amy, no... No, no, no..." She barely nodded.

"Why?" Ryan asked.

"It's pretty," she shrugged nervously. Danielle laughed loudly and went into the kitchen, coming back a few seconds later with a beer in her hand.

"What are you-" Jamie started before Danielle cut him off angrily.

"It's for Nash, dumbass," she spat, "We'll be outside if you need us." She opened the door, looked at us, and said, "Don't need us," before slamming the door behind her again.

~

Title: "Last One Standing" by Hot Chelle Rae


	40. If It's You and Me Right Now, I'd Be Alright

-Nash-

"Thanks," I said quietly as Danielle handed me a beer and sat down beside me on the porch steps.

"You're welcome," she replied, laying her head on my shoulder, "Just don't drink all of them tonight."

I laughed, "I'll try not to."

She looked up at me, "I mean it, Nashy. I don't want you to do anything stupid."

"I know. I won't," I kissed the top of her head and wrapped my arm around her. "So I heard you yell at someone before you opened the door. You wanna tell me about that?" I asked, taking a drink.

"Anger got the best of me again," she shrugged.

"Who did you yell at this time?"

"Which person will make you less disappointed in me?" she asked.

"Danielle," I said.

She sighed, then mumbled, "It may or may not have been Jamie..."

"Danielle," I groaned.

"What?!" she exclaimed, "It just happened! I'm sure you're not the only one mad he's the one I yelled at either, so..."

"You know you're going to have to apologize, right?"

"You know what? This isn't about me. This is about you and what you're gonna do about Amy," she said.

"Fine," I said, taking another drink.

"Did you break up with her?" Danielle asked.

"No, but I'm not sure we're exactly together anymore."

"Cut the act, Nash," she stated.

I shrugged, "What act? If she really cared, she wouldn't still have the ring."

"I know you're not exactly one to talk about your feelings – believe me, I'm not either – but I know you're hurt. I can tell. She does care; She just has a weird way of dealing with things."

"Maybe I am hurt, but it doesn't take three years to get over someone," I said.

"Everyone's different, Nash. They deal with things differently than you or I think they should. She loves you; She hasn't said it to you yet, but I know she does just by the way she looks at you. And I know you love her, too. Maybe you two telling each other is what she needs to move on."

I thought for a moment before I got up and walked inside, walking straight into the room I shared with Amy.

-Danielle-

I stayed on the porch steps for a few minutes before standing up and going back inside. By this time, everyone had taken a seat on the couch and were just talking when I walked into the room.

They all turned to stare at me and I said, "Don't look at me like that. Where's Jamie?"

"His room," Ryan answered coldly.

I ignored the harshness in his voice and rushed down the hall, pausing at the door before turning the knob and walking in quietly. I found Jamie sitting on our bed, playing with his phone – probably on Twitter.

As I closed the door behind me, I heard Jamie say quietly, "Come to yell at me some more?"

"You really know how to make a person feel even worse than they already do about something, don't you, Jaim?" I mumbled.

He shrugged, looking up at me. I walked over to the bed, getting on it and sitting in Jamie's lap, wrapping my arms tightly around his neck.

"I'm sorry," I mumbled into his shoulder as he put down his phone and wrapped his own arms around my waist just as tightly.

"It's okay," he said back quietly, "You were just mad."

I moved to look at him, "That doesn't mean I should've taken it out on you. You didn't do anything. I... I shouldn't have said what I did – mad or not."

"It's okay, Danielle. If I ever happen to yell at you one day, hopefully, you'll forgive me," Jamie chuckled.

"Yeah, but not as quickly as you do," I giggled.

"Who said I forgave you?" he smirked.

"Well, if you don't forgive me, that means I have to sleep on the couch and we can't kiss each other. Then no one would be happy. Think of the others, Jamiebear," I said with a serious expression.

He grinned, "Okay, I forgive you, but only because I don't like when you're not happy and I really like kissing you."

"Good choice," I laughed, leaning closer and kissing him.

-Amy-

I went to my bedroom after everyone lectured me about keeping the ring. It was dark, but I could tell Nash walked in and I closed my eyes, pretending to be asleep and trying not to start crying again. He walked over to the side of the bed I was on and kissed my lips softly.

He pulled away and I opened my eyes, looking at him and barely whispering, "What was that for?"

"I don't exactly know if this is a good time since we haven't been together that long and everything," he said quietly, laying beside me, "But I just want you to know I love you."

I stared at him, "You what?"

He smiled, "I love you, Amy."

I stared at him for a few more seconds before whispering, "I love you too, Nash." He leaned in and kissed me again, longer than the first time. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you about the ring," I muttered when he pulled back.

"It's okay. If having it is what helps you get over him, I'm not going let it bother me," he replied.

"Why?" I asked, confused.

He chuckled, "He doesn't have you anymore, I do – and I'm not going to be as stupid as he was and let you go that easily."

"I was going to put it up on eBay this afternoon, but I forgot," I said randomly.

"Maybe you should be related to Danielle with how often you two forget things," he laughed lightly.

"See, I have this theory that we're actually sisters, but she was adopted when she was a baby by people who lived here and that's why she doesn't have the sexy Australian accent," I said.

"The accent is pretty hot," Nash said with a serious expression.

I laughed and whispered, "I love you."

"I love you more," he said, kissing my forehead.

I moved to lay my head on his chest, quickly falling asleep.

~

-Danielle-

A couple months later, Melanie, Maggie, Amy, and I were shopping for Maggie's wedding dress and our bridesmaids dresses.

"Maggie," I groaned.

"Danielle," Maggie copied.

"Why is this taking so long? We've already established that you look absolutely gorgeous in every single dress you've put on and Keaggy's gonna think you look beautiful no matter which one you're wearing, so just pick one already!"

"What's up with you?" she laughed, "You love shopping!"

"You said we'd get food after."

"She's always in it for the food, Mags," Melanie laughed, "Have you not been paying attention?"

Maggie smiled, "Two more, Danielle. I promise."

I sighed, "Fine, but if I don't get my pizza within the next 30 minutes, the price I'm charging to be your wedding photographer is going up."

"Deal," Maggie said, going back into the changing room.

The next time she came back out, all Melanie, Amy, and I could do was stare.

"Well," Maggie said after a few seconds of silence.

"That's the one," Amy smiled widely.

"Really?" she asked, looking at herself in the mirror.

"You look stunning!" Melanie gushed.

"If his jaw doesn't drop when he see you walk out, I'm going across the aisle and smacking him upside the head," I stated.

Maggie gave me a look and shook her head, "Whatever you say." She went back to change out of the dress and when she came back out, we bought Maggie's dress and our bridesmaids dresses and left the store.

~

-Maggie-

*Two weeks later*

"I think I'm gonna be sick," I mumbled, holding my stomach.

Melanie laughed lightly as she secured the veil in my hair, "You're gonna be just fine. You look beautiful."

"Thank you," I said quietly, smiling.

"It's time, guys," Danielle trotted in happily.

"Well, no backing out now," I laughed nervously.

"Actually-" Amy started before Danielle and Melanie glared at her. "You're right. Um, I'm gonna go get in my place now," she said as she rushed out of the room.

"Seriously. It'll be fine," Melanie said before walking out of the room as well.

"Just think about the life you're going to have married to the man who means everything to you," Danielle said, following Melanie.

I walked out into the hallway to see my dad smiling widely at me. I smiled back and linked my arm with his. The music started and Amy and Nash walked down the aisle, then Melanie and Ryan, followed by Danielle and Jamie. After my niece and Nash's nephew, our flower girl and ring bearer, walked down the aisle, it was time for my dad and I to walk. I took a deep breath when I heard the music start and I heard my dad chuckle.

"You don't need to be nervous," he said as we walked out and everyone stood. I immediately looked at Ian – who already had his eyes on me – grinning widely. As we got closer, I bit my lip when I saw a tear fall down his cheek.

"Who gives this woman to this man?" the preacher asked, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Her mother and I do," my dad said.

I looked at my mom – who was already crying – and couldn't help but smile. I kissed my dad's cheek and smiled at him before Ian took my hand from my dad and I stood in front of him. I brought my hand up to wipe his cheek, leaving it there for a moment and smiling at him before holding his other hand.

"You look beautiful," he whispered.

"So do you," I whispered back, making him laugh.

After an opening prayer and a few other things I honestly wasn't paying attention to due to the fact I was so focused on Ian, but I did hear him begin the speech for the 'I do's.

The preacher turned to Ian, "Will you, Ian, take this woman to be your wedded wife? Do you promise to love her, comfort her, honor her, and keep her in sickness and in health, remaining faithful to her as long as you both shall live?"

Ian looked at me, "I do."

"And do you, Maggie, take this man to be your wedded husband? Do you promise to love him, comfort him, honor him, and keep him in sickness and in health, remaining faithful to him as long as you both shall live?"

I smiled at Ian, "I do."

"May I have the rings, please?" the preacher asked.

Jamie handed him the rings and he continued, "Ian, please repeat after me: With this ring, I thee wed."

Ian slipped the ring onto my finger, "With this ring, I thee wed."

"Maggie: With this ring, I thee wed."

"With this ring, I thee wed," I smiled, putting the ring on Ian's finger.

The preacher smiled at us, "By the power invested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."

Ian and I grinned widely as we leaned in and kissed each other. Everyone cheered and we walked back down the aisle, officially starting our lives together as husband and wife.

~

Title: "Fly With Me" by Jonas Brothers


	41. I Can Barely Breathe

-Melanie-

It was a couple weeks after the wedding and we had all pretty much calmed down from the hype of Ian and Maggie finally getting married. I woke up that morning feeling a little under the weather and didn't exactly know why.

"Are you sure you don't want me to stay home?" Ryan asked as he was buttoning up his shirt.

I rolled my eyes as I laid in bed, "For the 17th time, babe; Danielle, Maggie, and Amy said they'd take care of me. I don't want you worrying about me all day. I'm sure it'll pass by tomorrow. Besides, you and the guys have been planning a guys day for forever!"

He looked at me and sighed, "Fine. We'll be back in a few hours."

He leaned down to kiss me, but I put my finger against his lips, "You can't afford to catch whatever I might have." I moved my arm back down beside me and he quickly kissed me.

I gave him a look and he shrugged, "My bad. I was aiming for your cheek."

"Well, you have horrible aim and you really need to work on it," I laughed.

"I'll be sure to do that," he winked as he grabbed his phone, stuffing it in his pocket and walking out of our bedroom. He turned back around and said, "I love you, Mel."

I smiled, "I love you too, Ry." He left the room and I heard him tell the guys he was ready and then the front door closed before I drifted off to sleep.

~

A couple hours later, I heard someone moving around in my room. I mumbled and rubbed my eyes, only to see Danielle putting a cup on my nightstand.

"Sorry, Mel. I didn't mean to wake you up. I just figured you'd wake up soon, so I thought I'd make you some tea," she said with a guilty look on her face.

I laughed lightly, sitting up, "It's okay. Thank you." I picked the cup up off my nightstand and took a sip, letting the hot tea warm my throat.

"Are you feeling any better?" Danielle asked.

"I guess. I do feel a bit nauseous though," I answered, taking another drink.

"Well, if you need anything, call for me," she said, walking back out of the room. After I finished my tea, I laid back down and almost instantly went back to sleep.

~

About three more hours passed and the next time I woke up, I felt someone wrapping their arm around me.

I looked over at Ryan and he whispered, "Sorry for waking you up." I smiled and moved as close to him as I could, laying my head on his chest and falling asleep again. That time, I slept until the next morning.

~

I woke up at about 8:30am with a weird feeling in my stomach. I knew it wasn't just a stomach ache, so I quickly got up and ran into the nearest bathroom. As soon as I stepped onto the bathroom floor, I immediately knew I was about to throw up. I heard someone come in, then hold my hair back.

I finally stopped throwing up after what seemed like forever and sat down with my back against the wall. I looked to my left as whoever was in the room with me sat beside me.

"I think you need to go to the doctor," Ryan said, holding my hand in his.

"It's probably just the flu," I said.

He shook his head, "Mel, I know you hate doctors, but I want you to get better, and having your face in a toilet bowl and not having the energy to do anything is not going to help you get better."

"But-"

"No," he cut me off, "We're going to the doctor today."

"You're not going with me, Ryan. You and the band have a meeting today," I said, "I'll go to the doctor and you go to your meeting." He looked at me and I knew what he was thinking. "No, there's no point in arguing. Now go," I said. He reluctantly let go of my hand and kissed my forehead before standing up.

"I love you," he said, walking out of the room.

"I love you too," I smiled back.

He and the guys left and I picked myself up off the floor and went back to my bedroom to get dressed. I walked out into the living room and noticed Danielle watching TV.

"Where are Amy and Maggie?" I asked.

She turned to look at me, "They went grocery shopping."

"And you didn't go?" I laughed.

"Didn't really feel like putting pants on this morning," she shrugged.

"I didn't need to know that."

She laughed loudly, "I'm wearing shorts, calm down. Where are you going?"

"Ryan wants me to go see Dr. Lee to find out what's going on," I said, rolling my eyes.

"Oh, do you want me to go with you?" Danielle asked as I grabbed my car keys off the counter.

"Nah, I'll be fine," I said, "If I need anything, I'll call you." I walked out the door and to my car, starting the engine and driving to my doctor's office.

I walked into the building and signed in at the front desk before taking a seat in the waiting room. There was only one other person in the waiting room, so I wasn't all that surprised when it didn't take long for my doctor to be ready for me.

"Well, hello, Melanie," she smiled at me when she entered the waiting room.

"Hi, Dr. Lee," I returned the smile, standing up and following her back to one of the rooms.

"So why am I seeing you today?" she asked as I sat down.

"My boyfriend's worried about me," I sighed.

Dr. Lee laughed lightly, "Alright, what's going on?"

"Well, yesterday, I didn't feel too well when I woke up, so I just slept all day, but this morning, I threw up. I was thinking it might just be the flu or something, but Ryan wanted me to come see you just to be sure," I answered.

~

Dr. Lee did some routine examinations and when she was done, she said, "Well, I don't see anything that would lead me to believe you have the flu. I think you just ate something your stomach didn't agree with. You should feel fine after another couple hours of rest, but if for some reason you don't, I would just recommend you take some Ibuprofen or Tylenol."

"Thanks," I said, following her out of the room and back to the front desk.

After I was done at the doctors, I went home. I walked back inside, taking my jacket off and hanging it back in the coat closet.

"So what did Dr. Lee say?" Danielle asked.

"She just said it was probably something I ate and to rest for a couple more hours and if I don't feel better, take some Tylenol," I shrugged.

"Well, I could've told you that," she giggled as I sat down with her on the couch.

I laughed along, "I know, but if I didn't go, Ryan would have thrown a fit." About two minutes into whatever Danielle had been watching, I suddenly started to feel nauseous.

I groaned, "Not again," getting up and rushing into the bathroom. Danielle followed quickly behind and held my hair as I threw up for the second time today.

When I stopped, I leaned against the wall again and Danielle sat with me.

"Mel... You haven't eaten anything for the past two days..." she said.

"Okay, so?" I asked confused.

"So I'm finding it hard to believe that something you ate is what's making you throw up."

"I'm still not following..."

"Can I ask you something personal?" Danielle asked.

I looked at her and nodded, "Yeah, sure."

"Have you and Ryan ever... You know?"

"Had sex?" I laughed.

"Yeah..." she trailed off.

"Yes, we have."

"When was the last time you had your period?"

"I don't know. I've been so busy. I guess it's been like, two months," I shrugged. She looked at me and my eyes widened, "Oh my God..."

Danielle got up quickly, "I'm gonna go to the store. I'll be back as soon as I can."

"Wait, shouldn't you put on pants?!" I called after her as she ran out.

"I don't have time for pants!" she yelled back before I heard the door close loudly, leaving me in my thoughts.

~

Title: "Last One Standing" by Hot Chelle Rae


	42. I'm Restless, Obsessed with Your Future

-Melanie-

Danielle came back about 20 minutes later, running through the front door and into the bathroom. She threw a box at me and closed the door on her way out. I kept my eyes on the door for a few more seconds before shrugging it off and looking down at the box in my hands.

A pregnancy test. Great.

I took a deep breath and opened the package, taking the test.

I set the timer on my phone and walked out of the bathroom while I was waiting for the results and looked at Danielle, "I don't know if I'm ready for a kid..."

"This isn't definite. It could just be a weird stomach virus or something," she said, trying to make me feel better.

"Danielle, I haven't had my period in two months! I have morning sickness, for crying out loud! This isn't some weird stomach thing!"

"Okay, geesh," she mumbled.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell at you. It's just... I'm 20-years-old and I'm dating someone who will never be home to take care of this kid..."

Suddenly, my phone went off, letting us know time was up. I looked up at Danielle and she nodded, knowing I didn't want to check it myself. She walked to the bathroom and came back out with the box and the test in her hands.

She looked from the box to the test a few times before looking at me and opening her mouth, but no words came out. Almost instantly, I realized what that meant.

I sat down on the couch, putting my face in my hands, "Oh my God." I sat in silence for a couple minutes before whispering, "I don't know if I can do this by myself."

"Mel," Danielle said, sitting beside me and rubbing my back, "You aren't doing this by yourself. I'm always gonna be here for you, okay? No matter what you decide to do."

I looked up at her, "What do you mean?"

"Well, I know how you feel about abortion, so we can kinda rule that out. The only other options would be to either keep it or put it up for adoption."

"I'm just scared Ryan will make me choose between him and the baby," I sighed again.

Danielle was about to say something, but we heard car doors close outside. I looked out the window and noticed everyone happened to get home at the same time – just my luck. I ran into the bathroom with the test and box and threw it away, hiding it in the trashcan as best as I could.

I went back out and looked at Danielle, "Please, please, please don't tell."

"Okay," she said simply.

"I'm serious!"

She grabbed my shoulders and looked me straight in the eyes, "Melanie! I am not going to tell." Danielle went out to help everyone carry in the groceries while I sat down on the couch.

"Hey, babe," I heard Ryan say.

I looked back at him, "Hi."

"What did the doctor say?"

"Just that I need to rest and I should be fine in a couple hours," I said, trying my best to hide my nervousness.

"That's good," he smiled, "Well, I'm gonna go take a shower and then we can all watch a movie or something." I nodded and he kissed my forehead, walking down the hallway. I let out a sigh of relief before everyone came into the living room and sat down.

~

We talked about whatever came to our minds until Ryan came back into the room about 20 minutes later.

"Hey, um, what's up with this?" he asked. We all turned to look at him and I almost stopped breathing when I saw he was holding up the pregnancy test.

~

Title: "For Baltimore" by All Time Low


	43. Everything was Slipping Right Out of Our Hands

-Danielle-

"Well?" Ryan said, obviously getting impatient.

Melanie turned to me with a panicked look on her face and on impulse, I immediately jumped up, "It's mine." Everyone stared at me with the same shocked expression on their face, even Melanie. I looked at Jamie, who looked like he was going to pass out. "Jaim... Are you okay?" I asked slowly.

"What do you mean it's yours?" he asked, his voice cracking.

"How..." Nash trailed off.

I was about to answer when Amy shouted, "He knows how!"

"What I think he means is your ring..." Ian said, shaking his head.

"Promises can be broken," I said.

"But we've ne-"

Jamie started before I cut him off, "If you'll excuse us, Jamie and I have some things to discuss." I quickly looked at Melanie apologetically and mouthed, "I have to, I'm sorry."

"I know," she mouthed back, nodding lightly.

I grabbed Jamie's hand, pulling him off the couch and to our bedroom upstairs. I pushed him into the room toward our bed and closed the door behind me, locking it.

"How can you be pregnant? We've never done anything," he said as we sat on our bed, facing each other.

I ignored his question and quickly whispered, "Jamie, I have never asked you for anything this big in my life and I probably never will again, but I just need you to play along, okay?"

"What are you talking about?" he whispered back.

"I need you to promise that what I'm about to say will stay between us."

"I promise," he said quietly.

"I need you to mean it, Jamie. I'm trusting you with this. You cannot tell anyone."

He grabbed my face and looked me in the eyes, "Danielle, I promise."

I took a deep breath before whispering, "I'm not pregnant... Melanie is."

"Wha-" he started to yell before I covered his mouth.

"Jamie! Please!" I squeaked, "No one can know! There are only three people in this house that know about this and it needs to stay that way until Melanie is ready to tell Ryan!"

He sighed, "Okay, but I don't feel comfortable lying about this."

"I know you don't, Jamie, but please, do this for me," I begged.

"For you," he nodded, lightly kissing me.

"Thank you," I mumbled, hugging him tightly and grabbing his hand again, walking back out of the room and downstairs.

I guess it was evident that they just dropped the subject, because when Jamie and I reentered the room, no one said anything – not that I wanted them to.

~

*Two weeks later*

It was about 11am and I was in the kitchen with Melanie and Jamie. Everyone but Ryan was in the living room, so we had to be pretty quiet.

"Mel, you can't keep it from him forever. He's gonna find out sooner or later," Jamie whispered.

"I pick later," she mumbled, taking a bite of a doughnut.

"Melanie, look at you! You're eating everything in this house and you're starting to show," I said quietly, "We can't keep this up for much longer. They're gonna start wondering why my stomach isn't getting bigger and yours is."

"Why would her stomach get bigger?" we heard Nash ask. We spun around and saw him, Ian, Maggie, and Amy standing in front of us, confusion written all over their faces.

"Because, uh... We..." I stumbled on my words before Melanie sighed.

"Because we've been lying to you," she said.

"Mel," I stared at her in shock.

She shook her head, "Jamie's right. They're gonna find out sooner or later and I can't keep doing this anymore."

"What are you talking about?" Amy asked.

Melanie took a deep breath, "Danielle's not pregnant. I am."

"Why didn't you just tell us?" Maggie laughed lightly as we all sat at the dining room table.

"Wait, you're not mad?" Melanie asked surprised.

"Of course not! Why would we be mad?" Ian chuckled.

"Because we lied to you..."

"Well, sure, we're not happy about you lying to us, but you shouldn't have felt like you had to. We're happy for you!" Amy exclaimed.

"What are you gonna do about Ryan?" Ian asked.

Melanie shrugged, "I mean, he'll find out eventually. I just haven't exactly found the right time to tell him. I can't just casually say, 'Hey, babe. The weather looks beautiful today. You're gonna be a dad. What do you want for dinner?'"

"I think you just told him," Ryan said, walking out into the dining room from the hallway.

"Ryan! I can explain!" Melanie exclaimed, quickly standing up.

"Explain what, Melanie?! How you've been lying to me the past two weeks?! How you didn't think to tell my right away when you found out you were having a baby?!" he said loudly.

"Ry-"

He cut her off, "Were you even going to tell me or were you just going to get an abortion and pretend it never happened?!"

"Ryan, I-"

"I don't want to hear it, Melanie! I'm done!" he said before grabbing his jacket and car keys and walking out the front door. I looked over at Melanie and realized she was crying.

"Melanie..." I said quietly, choking back tears as well.

She shook her head and quickly wiped her cheeks, "I need to go lay down." She rushed down the hallway and we heard her door close a couple seconds later.

It was quiet for a moment before I grabbed my blazer and keys as well.

I looked around the room at everyone as I slipped my blazer on, "Check on her every once in a while and make sure she doesn't do anything stupid."

"Why? Where are you going?" Jamie asked.

"I'm gonna go talk some sense into your brother," I said, running out of the house.

~

Title: "Mine" by Taylor Swift


	44. Hey, Baby, I Think I Wanna Marry You

-Ryan-

I drove to the park and sat on one of the benches under the tree Melanie and I always came to. I was so lost in my thoughts, I barely noticed when another car pulled up beside mine and someone got out.

"You realize we're going to talk about this, right?" Danielle said as she walked over and sat down beside me. I shrugged and she asked, "Why'd you leave?"

I finally looked at her, "What would you do if you found out Jamie lied to you about something this serious?"

"Well, I'd be a little pissed, but I wouldn't yell at him and walk out," she answered.

"Why didn't she just tell me?" I muttered, more to myself than to Danielle.

"She's scared out of her mind, Ryan," Danielle said, shaking her head.

"About what?"

"She's always wanted to have a baby, but she didn't expect it to be this early."

"I wouldn't just make her choose between me and the kid. I couldn't do that to her," I said quietly.

"And I know she knows that," she said, "But she wants you to be there for your baby, and you can't do that while you're touring." Danielle didn't let me say anything before she stood up, "I know you're not exactly ready to be a parent either, Ryan, but even though she won't say it, she really doesn't want to put this baby up for adoption. Please... Just consider it, okay?" She walked to her car and drove away, leaving me there for a few minutes before I made my decision.

I got home and pretty much ran through the front door. Everyone was sitting on the couch, including Melanie. Jamie was patting her knee, but stopped when he looked at me.

Melanie immediately stood up and opened her mouth to say something, but I rushed over to her, hugging her as tightly as I possibly could without hurting her. She froze for a moment, but then wrapped her arms around my waist, burying her face in my chest.

"I'm sorry," I mumbled into her hair. I felt her nod and squeeze me harder before we pulled away.

"I would've been pissed at me too," she said.

I held her face in my hands and kissed her forehead lightly, "I wasn't pissed at you. I was just angry you didn't think you could tell me we were having a kid. It is mine, right?"

"Ryan!" she laughed.

"Just making sure," I chuckled.

"No, it's Jamie's," she giggled.

"Oh, God! I knew it! I knew something was going on between you two!" Danielle yelled dramatically. She leaned onto Jamie, "Hold me."

"I'm cheating on you with your best friend and you want me to hold you?" Jamie laughed.

She looked at him and with the most serious face she could manage, said, "I'm hysterical, distraught, and not thinking clearly. Just hold me."

He shook his head and smiled, "Whatever you say, babe," wrapping his arms around her.

"So you're really okay with this? I mean, having a baby?" Melanie asked.

"Of course I am," I said, "I wouldn't want to have a kid with anyone but you." I kissed her and pulled back, then looked at Danielle. She smiled and nodded and I continued talking, "This isn't exactly how I wanted to ask you, but I figure now would be a better time than any." Melanie looked at me with a confused look on her face as I pulled a ring out of my pocket. She went wide-eyed and covered her mouth with her hand as I got down on one knee and smiled, "Mel, will you marry me?" A couple tears escaped her eyes as she nodded as quickly as she could. I slipped the ring onto her finger and stood back up to kiss her as the rest of the group cheered and clapped.

~

-Jamie-

We all decided to turn in to bed early that night since our day was pretty crazy. Danielle had her head on my chest, tracing my 'Let it be' tattoo as I was lying down on my back, staring at the ceiling.

"What's wrong, Jaim?" she asked after a few minutes of silence.

"Nothing," I said, "Why would something be wrong?"

"I don't know. You just don't seem very talkative tonight," she shrugged.

"Do you want me to be more talkative?" I chuckled.

"Yes, please," she smiled.

"Alright, what would you like me to talk about?" I asked.

"Well, we can talk about why you're not that talkative," she said.

"Are you sure you don't want to talk about something else?"

"Not anymore," she repositioned herself to look up at me, "Seriously, Jamie. What's wrong?" I sighed, realizing I probably wasn't going to be able to get out of this conversation.

"I guess it's just... The other day... When you told everyone you were pregnant..." I trailed off. Danielle gave me a look, so I continued, "Before you pulled me in here and told me you only said it to cover for Melanie... I felt like I should have freaked out more than I did."

"Yeah... You didn't really freak out that much at all. You kind of just stared at me," she commented.

"That's the thing. It made me realize that... Maybe... I wouldn't mind us having a baby of our own..."

"You mean, you wish I wasn't lying when I told everyone the pregnancy test was mine?" she asked slowly.

"I guess I am," I admitted.

"Are you sure we're ready for that?" she asked quietly.

"Danielle, I've seen you with Nash and Maggie's nieces and nephews. I think you're more than ready to be a mother," I told her honestly.

"Yeah, but we're not talking about other people's kids here, Jamie. We're talking about what would be ours, and I don't want our child to end up like I did," she whispered the last part. I looked at her for a moment before I pulled her on top of me. She put her arms on both sides of my head to hold herself up to look at me.

"The only thing wrong with you is that you refuse to believe anyone when they tell you you're beautiful," I told her firmly, "What your parents did to you was not your fault, just like what Mel's parents did to her wasn't her fault either. You both chose to stay friends with each other despite what your parents said, and I think you turned out pretty damn well." I kissed her nose lightly, then her lips, making her smile. She rolled off of me, but on the opposite side of where she was originally.

"I love you, Jamie," she whispered, laying her head on my chest.

"I love you more, Danielle," I whispered back.

I began playing with the ring on her finger, randomly taking it off and putting it back on. I finally built up enough courage to reach for the engagement ring that had been in my pocket for the past who knows how long. The next time I took off the ring I gave her, I quickly replaced it with the newer ring, hoping she wouldn't notice yet.

I felt her hand twitch slightly, not realizing beforehand that the ring she was already wearing would be warmer than the ring I had in my pocket. I felt her move a bit and watched as she touched her ring finger with her thumb. A few seconds later she looked up at me with watery eyes and biting her lip.

"I know this is the part where I'd usually get down on one knee, but will you marry me anyway, Danielle?" I smiled nervously. The tears came down her cheeks as she laughed and nodded.

"I told you I would never say no, Jaim," she whispered before kissing me.

~

Title: "Marry You" by Bruno Mars


	45. I'm Gonna Make This Place Your Home

-Melanie-

After waking up the next day, dealing with the morning sickness, and freaking out over the fact that Jamie and Danielle were now engaged as well, we decided to plan a few details of our weddings way ahead of time just to get it out of the way. We went to the Follese house with Jamie and Ryan to talk with Adrienne about the details.

"Definitely purple," Danielle said as we discussed bouquets.

"You'll be lucky if you get her into a white wedding dress," I laughed.

Adrienne smiled and shrugged, "It's her wedding, not mine."

"Don't say that," I giggled, "Everything in the room will be purple if we're not careful." Danielle stuck her tongue out at me, which I gladly returned.

"So the question I'm sure is on everyone's minds," Adrienne said, "Who's walking you two down the aisle?"

"I already have an idea of who I want to do it. I just need him to agree," Danielle laughed lightly, "What about you, Mel?" I was about to answer when Ryan came into the room.

"We've gotta go soon," he informed us, "Ian and Maggie want us to check out this apartment they're thinking about buying."

"Okay, babe," I said, "Hey, uh, where's your dad?"

"He's out on the porch reading, why?"

"I just need to ask him something," I said, standing up and looking at Adrienne and Danielle as they smiled knowingly. I walked out the front door and found Keith sitting on the porch swing reading the newspaper.

"Hey, Melanie," he smiled at me.

"Hey, Keith," I smiled back, closing the door behind me, "Do you have a minute?"

"Yeah, what do you need?"

I walked over and sat beside him as he watched me, "I just need to ask you something about my wedding."

"Sure, what is it? You're not thinking about backing out, are you?"

I laughed, "Of course not! It's just... Well, you know what happened with my parents and I a couple years ago and I think it's safe to say they won't be attending the wedding. I was wondering, you know, since my dad won't be there to walk me down the aisle, if maybe you would... You don't have to give me an answer right now or if you don't want to, that's okay," I added quickly.

He chuckled at what I was assuming my nerves and patted my knee, "I would be honored."

"Really?" I asked happily.

"Of course! I know not having a father around for the past couple years has been hard on you, and I just want you to know it means so much to me knowing you think of me as that father figure," he said.

"Well, you will be my father-in-law soon," I giggled. Ryan, Jamie, and Danielle walked out the front door.

"Dad!" Danielle shouted, throwing her arms up.

"Not yet," Keith laughed.

"Future Dad!"

"Babe, get in the car," Jamie chuckled.

"Make me," she smirked. He looked her and she shook her head, "Don't you dare."

"Too late," he exclaimed, picking her up, then looking at Keith and smiling, "Bye, Dad." Jamie walked off of the porch and Ryan walked over to me, pulling me up.

"Thanks for having us over, Dad," he smiled, lacing our fingers together.

"Always happy to have you here," Keith smiled back. We walked back to the car and Ryan began driving to the apartment building Ian texted him the address for.

~

When we walked inside the building, we saw him, Maggie, Nash, and Amy standing in the lobby.

"Hey, guys!" I smiled widely.

"Hey, Mel," Ian smiled back.

"Come on! We want you to see the apartment!" Maggie grinned, pulling mine and Danielle's hands as everyone else followed.

"Whoa," Danielle whispered when Ian opened the door.

"It comes fully furnished and everything," Ian said happily.

"Well, you agreed to buy it, didn't you?" I almost yelled.

Ian and Maggie looked at each other before turning back to everyone and shouting, "Yes!" Jamie, Danielle, Nash, Amy, Ryan, and I tackled them with a huge group hug, everyone congratulating them.

They showed us around the rest of the apartment and when we got back to where we started, Ian said, "I don't know if you guys noticed, but we're actually not that far from where we lived when we were living with you guys."

"So we can still see each other!" Amy smiled, clapping.

"Of course!" Ian exclaimed, "We want to live close to our friends!" We all smiled widely again before looking at Ian and Maggie. Their eyes widened, but before they could move, we tackled them in another group hug.

~

Title: "Home" by Phillip Phillips


	46. We'll Start a Life of the Plain and the Simple

-Nash-

*Skipping to Thanksgiving*

Amy and I were sitting on the couch talking while everyone else was in the Follese's kitchen when Danielle skipped into the room.

"I'm not interrupting anything important or life-changing, am I?" she asked.

"Do you consider talking about shoes important or life-changing?" Amy giggled.

"Unless these shoes are undercover superheroes, no."

"Then you're not," she replied, smiling.

"Good," Danielle said, "I need to borrow your boyfriend for a couple minutes."

"Are you going to make out with him?" Amy asked sarcastically.

"Yes," Danielle replied as seriously as she could.

She stared at her for a few seconds before saying, "Have fun."

"Seriously?" I laughed as Danielle grabbed my hand and pulled me off of the couch.

"You'll love it, don't worry!" I heard Amy laugh before Danielle took me outside.

"Yeah, because she would know," Danielle giggled as we sat on the porch steps.

"So what's up?" I asked her.

She took a deep breath and let it out, "Okay, I know this is going to sound really weird because I feel like I should be asking Keith since he'll be my father-in-law, but I wanted to ask you."

"What do you mean?" I asked when she paused.

"This is kind of sudden, so you don't have to answer right away."

"Danielle," I chuckled.

"Right, sorry. I was wondering how you would feel if I asked you to walk me down the aisle when Jamie and I get married..."

"Why me?" I asked, looking over at her.

She shrugged, "You were the first person I thought of when Adrienne asked me about it. You're my best friend, you've helped me through a lot of shit, and you're like the older brother I've never had. It's okay if you don't want to. I can just ask-"

I cut her off, "I would love to."

"Really?" she asked, looking at me, seemingly surprised.

"Of course! How could I say no after being the first person you thought of?" I laughed lightly.

She reached over and wrapped her arms around me, quietly saying, "Thanks, Nashy."

I smiled, "You're welcome, Danielle."

We sat there hugging for a few more seconds when we heard a man ask, "Excuse me. Does an Amy Duerinckx live here?" Danielle and I looked up and noticed three people standing in front of us.

"Um, well, she doesn't live here, but she is here," Danielle answered, raising her eyebrows.

"This may seem very confusing," a woman laughed, "We're her family."

"Yeah," I said slowly, standing and helping Danielle up as well, "She's inside. Come on in." Danielle and I led everyone inside the house and we walked into the kitchen where everyone else was talking and laughing.

"Uh, Amy," Danielle said when we saw her.

She looked behind us in shock, "Mom, Dad, Andrew? What are you doing here? How are you here?"

"We wanted to see you for Thanksgiving! We have seen you in six months! We missed you!" her mother said.

"Why didn't you call or something?" Amy asked, still a bit shocked, but walked over and hugged them.

"We wanted to surprise you and it looks like we did a pretty good job," her father laughed.

She smiled, "I'd say so!" Amy introduced us to her family, "Well, this is everyone! Everyone, this is my dad Mark, my mom Angela, and my brother Andrew. Guys, this is Keith, Adrienne, Anna, Ryan, Melanie, Ian, Maggie, Jamie, Danielle, and my boyfriend Nash." She walked back over to me and wrapped her arms around my waist, smiling as I laid my arm across her shoulder.

"Boyfriend?" he father asked, almost smirking, "How long has that been going on?"

"About six months," she said happily, "Right before I moved."

"Oh! I remember!" Angela exclaimed, "These were the people you stayed with when they were in Australia! They're in that band you always talk about!" The guys and I all smirked at Amy, who was now blushing lightly.

"Thank you for that," she said sarcastically.

"You're welcome," her mom smiled back.

"It's very nice to meet you all," Adrienne smiled, "You can sit down if you'd like. We were just about to eat."

"Oh, that's alright. We don't want to intrude. We just stopped by to say hello to Amy," Mark said.

"It's really no trouble," Keith smiled, "We have plenty of food and room for three more!"

Angela looked at Mark and shrugged, "We didn't really have anything planned and we're only staying for today."

"Well, I suppose that would be okay. As long as you're sure it's alright with you," Mark said, looking at Keith and Adrienne.

"Of course it is!" Adrienne smiled before turning to Ryan and Jamie, "Boys, go get some extra chairs from the garage." They nodded and walked out of the room, returning a couple minutes later with some chairs. They put them at the table and we all sat down, beginning to eat after the prayer.

As we all talked and laughed with each other while hearing stories about Amy from her childhood – which caused her to hide her face against my arm for most of the time – I noticed her brother giving me a strange look throughout most of the afternoon.

We finished eating and while everyone was clearing the table, Andrew pulled me into the living room. I was about to ask what was going on, but he beat me to it.

"I know about your reputation and I'm not happy you're dating my sister," he stated bluntly.

"How do you know about that?" I asked, trying not to sound too harsh about it.

He simply shrugged, "I got curious about the band she always talked about and Googled you guys."

"Well, I can assure you that that is no longer who I am."

He laughed loudly, "Oh, I'm sure it's not, but she left Lawrence for you and I'm not about to let you hurt her."

"Andrew!" Amy exclaimed walking into the room, "What's going on in here?" I shook my head at him and walked back into the kitchen where everyone else was while Amy talked to her brother.

"What happened in there?" Ryan asked when he saw me.

I smiled, "Nothing major. Andrew just gave me the whole protective older brother speech."

-Amy-

"What's going on?" I asked again when Nash walked out of the room, apparently mad at something.

"I know about his reputation, Amy, and I don't like that you're with him," Andrew said.

"Well, that's too bad," I said, slightly shocked, "Because I am and you don't have a say in who I date."

"Yes, I do, Amy. I'm your brother!"

I laughed sarcastically before shouting, "That has nothing to do with this, Andrew! You're just pissed off because I broke up with your best friend and now, you're apparently getting even with me!" Suddenly, my mom and dad came into the room and looked at us.

"What's with all the yelling?" my dad asked.

I was about to say something when Andrew cut me off, "Nash gets drunk all the time and sex with random girls behind Amy's back, but she won't leave him." My parents looked at him in shock before turning to me.

"Amy, is that true?" my mom asked.

"No!" I exclaimed, "I mean, it's true that he used to do it, but he hasn't done anything like that since we started dating!"

"I saw pictures of him with another girl a few weeks ago! I'm not making this up," he said, pulling out his phone. He showed the photo to us, but before I had the chance to explain, my mom grabbed my wrist and started taking me out the door to their car, slamming the door behind us.

"What are you doing?" I asked, trying to break free.

"We're taking you home," she said plainly, lightly pushing me into the backseat and shutting the door.

"What do you mean you're taking me home?!" I yelled, going to open the door, only to realize it was locked and I couldn't get out.

"You're coming back to Australia," my dad said, pulling out of the driveway once my mom was in the car and sped off.

~

Title: "Somewhere in Neverland" by All Time Low


	47. You Know I'm Never Gonna Let You Go

-Danielle-

We heard yelling and I said, "I'll go make sure everything's okay."

I trotted toward the living room and entered just after the front door slammed shut. I ran over to the door and opened it just in time to watch a car leave the driveway and speed down the road.

"What happened?" Melanie asked, rushing into the room with everyone following close behind her.

"I'm not sure," I answered, pulling my phone out of my pocket and dialing Amy's number. "Where the hell are you?" I asked as soon as she picked up.

"They're taking me home!" she cried.

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"They're taking me back to Australia!" she said quickly before the line went dead.

I looked up at everyone in shock, "They're taking her back to Australia..."

Before anyone could respond, Nash was already out the door.

-Nash-

As soon as Danielle told us what was happening, I ran out of the house and got into my car. I nearly sped to the airport and got there in time to see Amy's family practically dragging her to the gate.

"Amy!" I yelled, running toward them as they turned around. She broke free from her mom's grasp and ran over to me, hugging me as tightly as she could. I took her face in my hands and moved her back to look at her. "What's going on? Why are you leaving?" I asked.

"She's coming home with us," Andrew stated plainly.

"What is wrong with you?" I asked, shocked as Amy buried her face into my chest and I wrapped my arms around her.

"I told you: I know about your reputation and I don't want you dating my sister," he answered.

Before I could say anything back, Amy let go of me and spun around to face her brother, yelling, "You're just mad because I'm happier with Nash than I was with your douchebag best friend!" She took a breath to calm herself down and looked at her parents, continuing, "The picture Andrew showed you was from a night when they were in L.A. and Danielle thought Jamie cheated on her. Nash was just giving her a hug to comfort her and Danielle's ex had taken the picture to use as blackmail against her and Nash because she wouldn't go back to him."

"And you believe that?" her brother laughed bitterly.

"Yes, I do! I trust them, Andrew! I know Jamie nor Danielle would ever do anything to ruin their relationship because they love each other so much, it's ridiculous. I am sorry that Lawrence and I didn't work out – really, I am – but I love Nash and just because you're not happy about it doesn't mean it's ever going to change." I felt a smile spread across my face and I wrapped my arms around Amy's waist from behind, and rested my chin on the top of her head as she leaned against me, holding my hands.

"Mr. and Mrs. Duerinckx, I swear I would never do anything to hurt your daughter. Yeah, I probably did do the things your son may have told you about, but I love Amy more than I've ever loved anyone. I would never intentionally do anything to hurt her," I said. I felt Amy squeeze my hand and smiled.

Her mother and father looked at each other before her mom looked at her and said, "Amy, if anything happens to you, I want you on the first plane home."

"So I can stay?" she asked hopefully.

"Yes," her dad smiled.

Amy screamed and turned around, jumping into my arms. I could vaguely make out what her mom and dad were saying to her brother as I hugged Amy tightly, but at that point, I didn't really care. All I cared about was the fact that I had Amy and she wasn't leaving me anytime soon.

"I love you," I mumbled into her neck.

She smiled, "I love you too." Amy put her feet back down on the ground and pushed on my shoulder, only to jump on my back.

"What are you doing?" I laughed as put my arms under her knees to hold her up.

She simply giggled, "I think I'm hitching a ride back to the Follese's house."

I started walking back to my car, "Ah, well, I think there's a fee for that."

"How about I pay you for it tonight?" she smirked.

"I'm sure we can work something out," I smirked back.

~

When I pulled into the Follese's driveway, I saw everyone sitting on the porch. As soon as Amy got out of the car, Danielle screamed her name and jumped off of Jamie's lap, running over to us.

She tackled Amy with a hug and exclaimed, "I missed you!"

"We were gone for half an hour," Amy laughed.

"You know her," Jamie smiled, walking over and pulling Danielle into him, "She's always being over-dramatic."

"I resent that!" she squeaked.

"Of course you do," Jamie grinned, kissing the top of her head.

"But really," Ian chuckled, looking at Amy, "We're glad you're back."

"I'm glad to be back," she smiled, "Now, what were we going to do before I left? Oh, right! I think Danielle, Melanie, Maggie, and I were going to kick your asses in FIFA."

"Oh, is that what you were going to do?" Ryan smirked.

"You know what? I think Amy's right," Melanie winked, strolling back toward the house before breaking into a run. The girls looked at each other before running after her with the rest of us following closely behind.

~

Title: "Time-Bomb" by All Time Low


	48. You're Still Holding onto My Heart

-Danielle-

*Three months later*

"Melanie, stop," I groaned as I stared at myself in the mirror.

"What?!" she exclaimed, "This is your big day! I'm supposed to be taking lots of pictures!"

"No, Keaggy is supposed to be taking lots of pictures. He's our wedding photographer; That's his job. You're supposed to be doing your job as my maid of honor to make me feel less nervous about this."

"What's there to be nervous about?" she asked, "You have a man waiting for you at the end of that aisle who's crazy in love with you and all your friends around to support you two!"

"You remember that in a few months when you're going through the same thing," I said sarcastically. She rolled her eyes as Amy and Maggie walked into the room.

"You ready?" Maggie smiled.

"As ready as I'll ever be," I mumbled, standing up and walking with the girls out of the room. We got into the hallway and I watched as Ryan, Ian, Nash, and Eli – who took the role of walking Amy down the aisle since she obviously couldn't walk with Nash – all look over at me and smile as widely as they could.

"You look beautiful, Danielle," Ryan said, giving me a hug. I gave him a small smile and quietly thanked him before it was time to start the ceremony.

I heard the room get quiet as our flower girl and ring bearer walked down the aisle before Amy and Eli, then Ian and Maggie, followed by Melanie and Ryan. The music started playing and I instantly felt butterflies as I linked arms with Nash.

"If it makes you feel any better, Jamie is nervous as hell too," Nash chuckled.

"That helps a little," I smiled as we walked into the room.

Everyone stood up and we started walking down the aisle, my eyes immediately locking on Jamie's. I could tell he was trying not to cry, which only made me want to cry that much more.

After what seemed like an eternity, but was really only a few seconds, we had finally reached the end of the aisle and the preacher said, "Who gives this woman away?"

Nash smiled and looked at everyone, "We all do."

I looked up at him and he kissed my forehead lightly before handing me off to Jamie and taking his place between Ian and Eli. Jamie and I turned to face each other and at that point, I wasn't paying attention to anything but him.

A few minutes later, I snapped back into reality when the preacher had us put the rings on each other and said, "And now for the exchanging of vows. Jamie, you will go first."

Jamie smiled at me, taking my hands in his, "Danielle, from the moment I met you at the band's meet and greet almost two years ago, I knew I had to get to know you better. I was so happy when Ryan and Melanie got together because I knew I would have the chance to do that, especially since I had forgotten to ask you for your number." I giggled lightly, making him smile as he continued, "We have our ups and downs, just like every couple does, but I'm thankful for every day that they don't do anything to tear us apart. I know I always tell you this, but I would honestly rather be single for the rest of my life if I couldn't spend it with you." He chuckled when a few people awed and kept talking, "There will never be enough words in any language to accurately describe how much I love you and how excited I am to be spending the rest of my life with you."

The preacher then turned to me, "Danielle."

I looked at Jamie and mumbled, "Well, there's no way I'm going to be able to top that." I earned a laugh from everyone in the room as I held Jamie's hands tighter, "Jamie, since the second Melanie introduced me to your band, you were the one I had that stereotypical fangirl crush on-" I leaned over to look behind Jamie at Ryan, Nash, and Ian, "-No offense, guys." They laughed lightly and nodded before I looked back at Jamie, "I can't tell you how many days I would spend sitting in my room, replaying song after song, imagining what it would ever feel like if my dream of meeting you came true. When you asked me to be your girlfriend, I literally thought I was dreaming and I would wake up any second. Honestly, there are days even now when I can't believe this is all actually happening, and it feels pretty damn good," I laughed. Jamie smiled and I went on, "I can't tell you how much it means to me that out of every girl who has ever been to one of your shows, that you would fall in love with me. Not a second goes by that I don't think about how lucky I am to have you in my life, and I thank God every single day for giving me someone who loves me just as much as I love him."

I saw a tear start to fall down his cheek and I reached up and wiped it away, leaving my hand resting on the side of his face for a moment before putting my hand back in his.

He smiled at me and the preacher continued with the ceremony, "If anyone has a reason these two should not be wed, speak now or forever hold your peace." It was quiet for a few seconds and he continued, "By the power invested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."

Jamie and I smiled at each other before leaning forward and kissing as everyone cheered and clapped. I bit my lip as he pulled back and we walked back down the aisle hand-in-hand to start our lives together.

~

*Five months later*

Life has been pretty calm since Jamie and I got married. Nash and Amy moved into their own apartment in the same building Ian and Maggie live in – and oddly enough, directly across the hall. Jamie and I moved into the house Melanie and I shared before moving in with the band, so we all have a place to call our own. Melanie's baby is due any day now, and she's really been stressing out. Especially since her and Ryan's wedding is in less than 48 hours.

~

*Two days later*

Melanie looked at herself in the mirror as I secured her necklace around her neck.

"You look stunning, Mel," I smiled at her.

She smiled back, "Thank you, and thanks for being our photographer."

"It's really no problem. Once the promise of french fries was thrown in, I was all for it," I teased.

I walked out of the room for a moment to make sure everything was ready and when I walked back in, Melanie looked at me with wide eyes.

"Danielle..." she said slowly, "It's time."

I looked over at the clock on the wall, "No, it's not. We still have 10 more minutes."

"No," she shook her head before pointing at her stomach, "It's time." My eyes got wide as well as Maggie and Amy walked into the room to see how everything was going.

"Get Mel out to my car, I'll be right there!" I told them as I ran out of the room and down the hallway until I found Jamie.

"Whoa, what's the emergency?" he asked.

"I need you to get the guys and meet us at the hospital," I rushed, turning back around and heading back the way I came.

"Why? What happened?" I heard the worry in his voice.

I spun back around and said, "Melanie just went into labor," and ran outside to my car where everyone was waiting for me and hopped in, driving to the hospital.

~

Title: "Inseparable" by Jonas Brothers


	49. We Can Live Like This Forever

-Ryan-

I stood at my spot at the alter, talking with Nash, Ian, and my parents when Jamie rushed into the room. I could tell he was almost panicked, but tried not to show it as the guests were in their seats waiting for the wedding to start.

"There's been a change in plans," Jamie said quietly.

"What? Why?" I asked worriedly.

"We need to get to the hospital now," he told me.

"Why? What's going on?"

Jamie simply looked at me, "You're about to be a dad." My eyes widened, as well as Nash's and Ian's, and I looked at my parents.

Before I could say anything, my dad said, "Yes, we'll take care of everyone here. Now hurry up and get to the hospital!"

I thanked them before rushing out of the room with the guys and running out to Jamie's car, taking off for the hospital.

~

-Melanie-

As soon as we were in the hospital, Amy shouted, "We need a doctor now!" Danielle and Maggie were helping me walk and Danielle kept telling me to breathe.

A nurse rushed over with a wheelchair and as Danielle helped me sit, she asked, "How long has she been in labor?"

"No more than 10 minutes," Maggie answered. We were all walking with Melanie up until we reached the door to the birthing center.

"We can't take all of you," the nurse shook her head, "Are any of you actually family members?"

"Sister-in-law," Danielle replied immediately.

"Alright, come with me," she said as we rushed through the door and Maggie and Amy went out to wait for the guys.

We went into a room where another nurse was waiting for us and they helped me change out of my wedding dress and into a hospital gown before getting me onto a bed. They were prepping whatever they needed to prep and I looked at Danielle.

"I can't do this without Ryan," I choked lightly.

She grabbed my hand and held it tightly, looking me straight in the eyes, "He will be here."

As soon as the words left her mouth, Ryan ran into the room.

"Whoa, who are you?" one of the nurses asked.

"Melanie's husband," he said out of breath, rushing over and holding my other hand, "How are you doing, babe?"

"Peachy," I gasped through clenched teeth as I felt a contraction.

"Where's Jamie?" Danielle asked Ryan.

"They wouldn't let him through," he told her.

I breathed slowly and asked the nurse, "He's my brother-in-law. Can't he come in?"

The nurse nodded and Danielle ran out of the room to get him, coming back a couple minutes later, just after the nurses had given me an epidural.

The doctor came into the room and smiled, "You look ready to deliver this baby."

"I've been ready for 9 months," I sighed.

He smiled, "Well, you should be ready to go in about 5 minutes."

~

20 minutes – and a lot of screaming later – we were silent waiting for the baby's cries. The moment we heard crying and we all let out a huge sigh of relief.

"It's a girl," the doctor smiled, cleaning the baby off before wrapping her up in a blanket and putting her in my arms.

I looked over at Jamie and he was grinning, but when I looked at Danielle, I saw she was looking straight ahead with a small smile. I looked over at Ryan and, for the first time since I met him, I saw tears falling down his cheeks.

"So what did you decide to name her?" Danielle asked.

"Seraphina," Ryan smiled, "But Sera for short."

"Why that?" Jamie asked.

"It's my aunt's middle name. She's the only one in my family who actually liked Danielle," I giggled.

"What did you decide for her middle name?"

I smiled up at him, "Elizabeth." Danielle let out a small squeak before covering her mouth with the palm of her hand as her eyes got watery.

"What's wrong?" Jamie asked worriedly, looking at Danielle.

She pulled her hand back and smiled, "Elizabeth was my grandma's name."

"And we want you two to be her godparents," Ryan said.

"Seriously?!" Danielle asked happily.

"Seriously," I smiled again, "So will you?"

"Of course we will," Jamie grinned.

~

A few minutes later, they finally let Nash, Ian, Maggie, and Amy come into the room.

"Oh my gosh," Maggie and Amy gushed as they walked in.

"Congratulations, guys," Nash smiled, giving Ryan and I a hug.

"First of many family photos!" Ian exclaimed. We all laughed as he pulled his phone out of his pocket and taking a picture. We soon got the Twitter notification from Ian and everyone but Ryan and I decided to tweet about it for themselves as well.

@IanKeaggy: Welcome the newest member of the HCR family, Seraphina Elizabeth Follese. :)

@nashoverstreet: I guess @riskybusinessmp isn't the baby of the group anymore. ;)

@maggieeckford: Sera is probably the cutest thing I've seen since my niece was born.

@Pierce_The_Amy: This is the luckiest kid in the world if you ask me. ;)

@Jamiefollese: @MissDanielle137 and I are definitely going to spoil our niece senseless. :)

"@MissDanielle137: Say hello to the BEST aunt this little girl is going have. Sorry, @AF_blessed. :) <3"

Ryan and I laughed as we read everyone's tweets on his phone.

"Alright," I chuckled after calming down a bit, "Who wants to hold her first?"

"Oh, don't even act like Aunt Danielle's not getting her first," Danielle smiled, gently taking Sera from my arms.

"So," Amy asked slowly, "What about the wedding?"

I looked at Ryan with wide eyes, "I completely forgot about everyone at the wedding." Ryan opened his mouth for a moment like he was going to say something, but stopped.

Jamie spoke up, "Why not have it here?"

"In the hospital?" I asked, more confused than shocked.

"Yeah, Mel," Maggie said, "I mean, there weren't exactly that many people at the wedding anyway."

"And we know how much you two wanted to get married on your two-year anniversary," Ian chimed in. Jamie rushed out of the room, coming back a few minutes later with a nurse.

"I thought you just came from a wedding," she laughed, "Well, we don't typically have weddings in here very often, but everything's looking good, so if you two are really set on getting married today, I'd say go for it."

She walked out of the room and not even a minute later, Keith, Adrienne, Anna, the preacher, and the rest of the wedding guests, were following her. Adrienne immediately looked at Danielle and I could tell she was holding back tears behind her smile.

Danielle looked up at Adrienne, then back down at Sera, whispering, "Say hi to Grandma." She walked over to Adrienne and put Sera in her arms.

We tried to make our wedding as normal as possible – having Danielle, Amy, and Maggie on the right side of my bed and Ryan standing on my left with Jamie, Nash, and Ian.

"Are we all set?" the preacher asked, smiling.

I looked at Keith, "Sorry you didn't get to walk me down the aisle like we planned."

Keith smiled at me, then down at Sera, "I think I can make an exception."

~

10 minutes later, after Ryan and I had said our vows and after we exchanged rings, we were ready for the 'I do's.

The preacher looked at Ryan, "Do you, Ryan, take this woman to be your wedded wife? Do you promise to love her, comfort her, honor her, and keep her in sickness and in health, remaining faithful to her as long as you both shall live?"

Ryan squeezed my hand and smiled down at me, "I do."

He then turned to me, "And do you, Melanie, take this man to be your wedded husband? Do you promise to love him, comfort him, honor him, and keep him in sickness and in health, remaining faithful to him as long as you both shall live?"

I grinned, "I do."

The preacher smiled at us again, "By the power invested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride." Ryan and I smiled at each other before he leaned down and kissed me.

When we pulled away we heard clapping and slight cheering. We saw the doctor and the nurses who helped with the delivery standing in the doorway with flowers and balloons. Ryan and I grinned widely at them as they walked all the way into the room.

"Uh, we didn't have a 'Congratulations' balloon, so we got you one that says 'It's a girl' shaped like a heart," one of the nurses laughed lightly.

"But we still wish you both congratulations with both your marriage and your baby," the doctor said, setting a small vase of flowers on my bedside table.

"Thank you," I smiled, almost starting to cry, "So much."

"You're welcome," he smiled, "Now, we're going to keep you overnight just to make sure everything is running smoothly and you should be able to go home early tomorrow afternoon."

"Thank you, Doctor," Ryan smiled.

~

The next morning, everyone had come to the hospital before I was discharged. Danielle brought me some clothes to change into before we left and as I was being wheeled out of the hospital after I was released, I couldn't help but look around at everyone and think about how lucky I really am.

Not a lot of girls can say they married a member of their favorite band, yet here I am, just got married to Ryan Keith Follese and had a baby girl with him. If you had told me three years ago that any of this would be happening, I probably would have laughed in your face and called you crazy. But it is happening.

I'm married to the guy of my dreams and I finally got what I've never really had: A family. And maybe we've had tough times, but they never tore us apart – they only brought us closer and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

~

Title: "Fine By Me" by Andy Grammer


End file.
